While Niamh ran, uncontrolled memories of the past popped up in her head.
It was years ago when she walked on that road, quietly following behind Kendrick while treading along the path he had walked with joy.
It was also that year when she ignorantly stepped into the main entrance of Glendale University and ran into the bright, handsome, and gentle boy.
She apologized with embarrassment and he replied to tell her that it was okay.
His smiling and gentle eyes at that time were still clear in her mind.
That boy was Kendrick.
Niamh was sure that it was her past memory, but she was not sure why she suddenly remembered it at that moment.
She ran forward in a panic, the words she had just heard still echoing in her head.
A blind man was hit by a car. The man was now covered in blood and might not survive.
Her heart felt as if it was being clamped hard by something. It was still beating, but it felt extremely uncomfortable.
On the misty and rainy night, Niamh finally saw the scene of the car accident at the intersection ahead.
The sight of the blood at the scene suffocated her while the adrenaline from the alcohol made her heart beat even faster.
Niamh quickened her pace suddenly. The panic she felt caused her to ignore everything in front of her. She could only focus on the scene of the car accident.
In a hurry, Niamh slammed into someone and a thin fragrance wafted into her nose. However, she did not take notice of it.
“Sorry.” She hurriedly apologized, eager to leave. However, her wrist was held tightly by the person in front of her.
Niamh thought that the person who had been hit by her would not let her go, but when she looked up, her pupils reflected the face she wanted to see most at that moment.
“Kendrick?!”
She looked at him in astonishment as tears started to form in her eyes unconsciously.
It turned out that he was fine.
“It’s me.” Kendrick squeezed Niamh’s wrist. “Why are you so anxious? Did you think that the person who got into the car accident in front was me?”
Niamh was stunned and took a moment to stabilize her emotions. She looked at the man in front of her.
He was dressed in casual clothes and holding an umbrella. Even if he was blind, the elegance that exuded from his bones was still there.
When Kendrick noticed that Niamh was not saying anything, he approached her while furrowing his sharp and handsome eyebrows. He looked worried. “Nia, have you been drinking?”
Niamh broke away from Kendrick’s hand and said bluntly, “Why aren’t you calling me Miss Montgomery?”
“…”
Kendrick’s fingers that held the umbrella handle tightened slightly. Suddenly, he laughed as if he was laughing at himself. “Well then, Miss Montgomery, have you been drinking?”
When Niamh heard him change the way he addressed her, her intoxicated face bore a sarcastic smile. “Mr. Waldburg, why do you care so much about your ex-wife?”
Kendrick looked away and changed the subject. “Miss Montgomery, you were the one who asked me to come here. What did you want to talk about?”
Niamh’s heartbeat was stabilizing, but the adrenaline still lingered. She was fixated on the face in front of her as a smile appeared across her cheeks that were flushed from the alcohol. “Kendrick, do you love me?”
Out of Kendrick’s expectation, Niamh had asked such a question. He was startled.
The traffic police arrived soon and dealt with the car accident. The crowd dispersed, and for a moment, it felt as if the two of them were the only ones left on earth.
Kendrick, who was dumbfounded for a moment, smiled and replied, “I don’t love you anymore.”
His tone was dull while the words were simple and clear. They came out of his lips without any pain or discomfort. His dark eyes made his appearance look even colder.
“Oh. It turns out that you don’t love me anymore, Mr. Waldburg.” Niamh went along with him. “If you don’t love me anymore, why does your new girlfriend look so much like me?”
Kendrick’s facial expressions changed slightly when he heard that.
He knew that who Niamh meant was Felicity, but he did not know what Felicity looked like and was even more surprised that Felicity looked very similar to Niamh.
‘Is she telling the truth?’
Despite his doubts, Kendrick smiled nonchalantly. “I only met Fel after I became blind. I don’t even know what she looks like.”
“Fel? Is that a nickname for her? It seems like your relationship with her must be very good, right?”
“…”
Kendrick pursed his thin lips lightly. He could not tell what Niamh meant, but he smiled and nodded. “Yes, Felicity and I have a very good relationship. We hit it off right after we met. She was the light for me at the end of the tunnel. She allowed me to understand what it’s like to truly love someone.”’
He said something that he did not believe and smiled forcefully.
“Miss Montgomery, if you asked me to come here just to ask if I still love you or not, I’ve already given you the answer. I used to love you, very much, but now… I don’t love you anymore. I love someone else now. Miss Montgomery, you and I are a thing of the past. As you said, we don’t owe each other anything anymore and we should never see each other again.”
He said those cold words without any fluctuations and handed the umbrella in his hand to Niamh.
“It’s getting late. I’m going back, Miss Montgomery. Take this so that you don’t catch a cold and a fever. Those who truly love you will worry about you.”
When Niamh saw him handing the umbrella over to her, she chuckled.
“Since the two of us don’t owe each other anything anymore, I’d like to ask you not to do these unnecessary things.”
She refused indifferently as the raindrops fell on both of their faces and bodies. The cool autumn wind blew by.
Kendrick frowned lightly. ‘Unnecessary things?’
He did not understand, but he soon heard Niamh’s voice ringing in his ears.
“Mr. Waldburg, please don’t bother about whether I’ll get sick or not. Don’t take care of me when I get a cold or a fever, and don’t turn around to save me when I fall into the water and am drowning, let alone when I’m burning to death as I fight and struggle with fate.
“I don’t need it. And I especially don’t need you to pretend to be the bigger person by handing me over to another man!”
Niamh said those words in a cold tone. She pushed aside the umbrella Kendrick handed over, knocked it to the ground, and turned around without looking back.
‘Hand her to another man?’
Kendrick was confused when he suddenly realized something. He looked up with discomfort as his heartstrings broke.
“Nia? Nia!”
He called her name anxiously and chased Niamh in the direction where she had left in the dark rainy night.
The rain drenched his clothes and seemed to have wet his eyes as well.
Only then did he realize that he had made another unforgivable mistake. He had made her unhappy again.
‘How did it turn out this way?’
He just wanted her to be happy and carefree for the rest of her life.
Why could he not do such a small thing for her?
‘Kendrick, what stupid thing have you done again?! Can’t you just do one thing that makes her happy?’
“Nia!”
Kendrick called out to Niamh and stumbled as he chased after her.
However, since he had lost his sight, he was unable to chase after her.
He walked onto the road blankly, and in the darkness, he heard the honking of cars that sounded both near and far.
Niamh, who had not gone far, looked back and saw Kendrick walking out to the middle of the road.
When she saw a fast-moving truck about to hit Kendrick as it could not hit the brakes in time, a fear that she had never felt before instantly lifted Niamh’s heart into her throat. The unspeakable panic made her scream uncontrollably, “Kendrick!!!”
Kendrick was surprised to hear Niamh call his name amidst the sound of the harsh honking.
The words that he had yearned to hear from her lips made the bitterness in his heart taste sweet again.
Kendrick was delighted and turned to the source of the sound.
The moment he turned around, he felt the wind from the car that was speeding in his direction.
The foreboding sense of what could happen in the worst possible situation electrified his body, and suddenly, an unexpected warmth surrounded him.
Niamh leaped toward him with great strength and threw Kendrick right onto the ground as she hugged him tightly.
“Nia.” Kendrick was shocked and tightened his arms.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.