Sunlight streamed over him, and the breeze tousled his hair as he leaned closer. Witnessing such magnificence, I couldn’t help but blush.
From that moment, I fell for him and poured myself into studying physics, nurturing a three-year crush.
I fought my way into his university, and on the first day of school, he came to pick me up. That was the first time I mustered the courage to confess.
“Derick, I like you.”
To my surprise, a faint smile tugged at his lips as he wordlessly pulled me into an embrace and kissed me.
Even now, thinking back to that moment makes my face flush.
I thought I was the luckiest person for having my first love as my boyfriend.
But now, I saw the truth. I was not lucky at all. I’d only ever been a stand-in, a substitute for his first love, Alanna Snee.
How could a replacement ever take the place of the real thing?
Marriage? That was just Derick’s excuse to keep me by his side. As long as Alanna stayed abroad, I’d remain his caged canary.
His lies had clipped my wings time and again, keeping me willingly trapped in this cage.
Even now, I can’t seem to break free.
Over the past seven years, marrying Derick had become my obsession.
At this moment, one stubborn thought fills my mind: To hell with Alanna. Once Derick and I are married, he’ll be mine.
Standing up, I forced a smile.
“It’s okay. I don’t need a wedding. Let’s just get the marriage license tomorrow, alright?”
His hand froze slightly, and he looked at me with a rare seriousness.
“Skye, don’t be unreasonable.”
Unreasonable?
I’d made plenty of unreasonable demands before, and he’d always indulged me.
Skye's POV
“Derick, I don’t like you having a female assistant.” And just like that, he replaced all his secretaries with men.
“Derick, I want to eat Parisian pastries.” He’d wake up at dawn to stand in line and buy them for me.
“Derick, I wish I could see you as soon as I leave the lab.” The next day, he was at the school gates waiting to pick me up.
My classmates envied me. To them, I had the perfect boyfriend who always knew how to take care of me.
But when it came to marriage, that one request suddenly made me "unreasonable."
For the first time, I saw annoyance flash in Derick’s eyes when he looked at me. I realized then—I had made a mistake.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “Derick, I was joking. I just graduated! I still have so much I want to do. Marriage? I’m not ready either.”