Like a man possessed, Dominic had rushed to her.
He pulled off his own coat and wrapped it around her shoulders without hesitation.
Then, as if that wasn't enough, he turned to me.
And stripped the coat from my back.
Without a word.
He gave that to her too.
Celeste collapsed into his arms, sobbing softly.
"Serafina didn't want me to come…" she cried, her voice fragile, trembling. "She threw away all my clothes. But Dominic, I just wanted to see the penguins with you…"
He looked at me then.
Not with doubt.
Not with hesitation.
But with pure scorn.
"You're jealous," he said coldly. "Poisonous. Vicious."
His gaze was sharp, cutting.
"Fine. Taste for yourself what it's like to freeze to death in Antarctica."
And then they left.
Together.
Leaving me behind in the endless white.
I died there.
Alone.
Wearing nothing but a single thin layer of clothing.
The cold had crept in slowly at first, numbing my fingers, my toes. Then it spread, seeping into my bones, until even breathing felt like inhaling shards of ice.
And then…
Nothing.
The memory faded.
I returned to the present.
Silently, I picked up my phone and ordered a pair of couple's snow goggles.
For them.