Even as my body begged for rest, my thoughts refused to go quiet. They dragged me backward—to when everything was simpler. When I still believed Lucien’s love was real.
Back in college, Lucien was untouchable. He belonged to someone else—Vanessa. The campus adored her: effortlessly elegant, brimming with confidence, the kind of beauty that drew admiration wherever she went. I had nothing compared to her. I was the quiet shadow. The invisible admirer watching from the distance, never daring to hope.
Then came the day that changed everything.
I had overheard Lucien and his group planning to go paragliding. Dangerous, thrilling—typical of someone like him. I told myself I just wanted to see him from afar. But then, disaster struck.
His parachute failed.
I still remember how my breath seized as he plummeted from the sky, his body a blur against the rocks below. Chaos erupted around me—friends screaming, some frozen, others in disbelief.
But I didn’t freeze.
Terrified of heights or not, my legs moved. I climbed down the craggy cliffside, my fingers raw, my body trembling. I pushed through the panic, the vertigo, until I found him. Barely breathing. Unconscious.