After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage By Cassila K

Chapter 72

The countdown is almost over.

Two days.

Fall is here. The air is crisper now, with a freshness that wasn't there before. The sky is weighed down by thick clouds, and drizzle begins to form fog on the streets, making the sidewalks slippery.

I wrap my shirt tighter around me, the thin fabric doing nothing to keep out the cold. I slip on my slippers and walk downstairs slowly, carefully, as if delaying my final routine here.

And then-

A black umbrella tilts toward me, shielding me from the rain before I can even notice the drops hitting my skin.

"Always walk in the rain," comes a low, familiar voice. "Aren't you afraid of catching a cold?"

I pause.

He holds the umbrella handle tightly-too tight. The tendons in his fingers stand out, and his knuckles pale from the pressure.

Pax Brown.

No more pretending.

No more wearing faded hoodies or worn sneakers. No more carefully crafting an image of a struggling man. He stood before me now, radiating the quiet, gaily- bred wealth that had always been second nature to him.

But his face his expression-

That hadn't changed.

He smiled.

nothing

before someone he'd been deceiving for two

weren't in the midst of a slow,

that Pax Brown came to me personally?" My voice was light, nonchalant. Detached, as if he'd shown up at my doorstep to sell me a

instant.

I almost laughed.

always decide the

I could know, how much I could

stood in that hospital room, looking at me with cold,

that door,

And yet

He's here.

I'm sorry. Let me

I didn't answer.

- it was a

was low and careful, as if he thought it could be

would have been inappropriate not to

I didn't move.

combination of guilt and sincerity, so close to believability that

time, I've been

and arrogant. They expect me to be Pax

was with you, I was just a boy. A man

I stared at him.

I felt like I was split in two.

the truth, I panicked." His hands clenched into fists at his

Ah.