Love Blooms After the Fireworks

On the day I returned, Xavier had the entire city's night sky ablaze with fireworks in my honor. Everyone claimed that Xavier was deeply in love with me. During the three years I was gone, he had searched for me frantically, leaving no stone unturned. He even kept a stand-in by his side for all that time, seemingly for my sake. Yet, in the end, his devotion to this stand-in nearly cost me my life.

On my first night back, Xavier held me close as we watched the fireworks from a mountaintop. The sky was a riot of colors, reflecting the intensity of his feelings—or so I thought. Suddenly, his phone rang. He glanced at it, his irritation evident and hung up. The phone continued to ring incessantly.

“So annoying,” Xavier muttered, frowning as he resumed kissing me, though his distraction was palpable. 

“Answer it. What if it's something important?” I assured him. 

Reluctantly, Xavier answered the call. A girl's tearful voice crackled through the speaker. “Xavier, I heard she’s back. After three years of replacing her and being by your side, it's time for me to leave you.”

“Then leave!” Xavier snapped, his irritation boiling over. “Why call just to tell me this? You’re nothing but a bother.” He ended the call abruptly and turned back to me, his gaze intense as he pulled me into a passionate kiss. Despite our closeness, there was an underlying distance I could feel, a restlessness in his touch.

I was about to dismiss my growing unease when Xavier suddenly pushed me away, his face a mask of urgency.

“Becca’s stubborn. She might do something reckless,” he said, his voice strained with a mix of frustration and concern. “I have to go stop her from harming herself. Wait here for me. I won’t be long.”

Xavier grabbed his coat with a quick, almost jerky motion, his movements reflecting his agitation. He didn’t bother with a final glance, not even a fleeting look back. With determined strides, he descended the mountain, his coat flapping in the cold wind as he made his way down the winding path.

I watched him until he was a distant figure against the backdrop of the early evening sky, the first stars starting to peek through the fading light. His hurried departure left me feeling abandoned, alone on the mountaintop, with only the freezing chill for company.

I waited alone on that mountaintop, the biting cold wind cutting through my clothes and piercing my bones. The chill seemed to amplify the ache in my heart, making the pain feel a thousand times more intense. Despite the freezing night and the relentless wind, I remained there, holding on to the hope that Xavier would return.

The darkness deepened around me and every gust of wind felt like a cruel reminder of my solitude. I pushed through the excruciating cold, willing myself to stay despite the sharp pain that radiated through my body. Hours passed and with each minute that ticked by, my hope dimmed.

As the first light of dawn began to creep over the horizon, casting a pale glow on the world, the realization set in. Xavier was not coming back for me. My heart sank further as I made my way down the mountain, each step heavy with the weight of abandonment. My teeth chattered uncontrollably as I descended, the cold having numbed my fingers and toes.

By the time I reached home, I was so frozen that I could barely move. I tried calling Xavier, but each call was answered only to be immediately cut off. It wasn’t until noon that he finally returned.

Seeing me, Xavier rushed to explain, his voice edged with concern. “I didn’t expect Becca to do something so foolish. I had to rush her to the hospital and stay with her all night. I had to handle all her paperwork and administrative stuff.”

Becca had attempted suicide last night and the news pierced through me like a knife. A sharp pain shot through my chest and I turned to Xavier with a question that had been haunting me. “Do the words you said three years ago still count?”