Drowning in His Heartbeat

“What do you mean?” He was stunned, more than he’d ever been.

“Just what I said. You mentioned calling off the engagement—I agree.”

Her voice was deliberately calm as she stood, then tipped the glass of lukewarm water directly over Stephanie’s head.

A cold laugh escaped her. “Sixty-six heartbreaks, Stephanie. Consider us even.”

Jennifer’s move caught them both completely off guard.

Only when her hair was soaked and dripping did Stephanie snap back to reality with a sharp shriek. “Ah—!”

Brandon’s heart twisted. He yanked Stephanie into his arms and shoved Jennifer away with a violent backhand.

The restaurant erupted instantly—plates and bowls crashing to the floor, every head turning toward the commotion.

Thrown off-balance, Jennifer slammed into the dining table and collapsed, overturning the pot of simmering broth. Scalding liquid splashed across her body, strewing bits of vegetable even in her bangs.

Where the table’s edge struck her lower back, pain lanced deep, like a steel spike driven straight through.

Dazed, she stared blankly at Brandon. He had never laid a hand on her before.

But his attention was fixed entirely on Stephanie, his voice softening into a gentle murmur that still reached her ears. “Stephanie, are you all right?”

The tight furrow in his brow eased only after she whispered, “I’m fine.”

Then he turned. His gaze was a blade of ice, sharp enough to carve right through her, as if he wanted to tear her apart on the spot.

“Jennifer, you really are pathetic.”

She ignored him. Using her hands and knees, she pushed herself slowly up from the wreckage on the floor.

Under the dining room’s mixed stares—some mocking, some pitying—she forced a strained smile onto her face.

A smile that held back tears, tinged with a sorrow so palpable that even someone as hardened as Brandon seemed to waver, his expression growing complicated. He opened his mouth, but Stephanie in his arms let out a delicate whimper. “Brandon, I feel dizzy…”

He didn’t hesitate. Turning, he rushed out of the restaurant with her in his arms.

Amid scattered whispers and judgmental buzz, the manager, Alan, gave her wounds a quick basic treatment. Only then did Jennifer limp out the door.

Not until she was seated in the back of the taxi did she seem to come back to herself, her gaze falling to the raw, bloody scrapes on her arms and legs.

“Miss, where’s your boyfriend? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?”

Jennifer’s lips twitched into a bitter smile. “No, thank you.”

Boyfriend?

The last one died saving me—turned to a handful of ashes.

This one just stabbed me in the back for someone else.

Without love, the living can’t even compare to the dead.

Back home, she took out the burn ointment and began applying it slowly to the reddened skin along her neck.

Suddenly, a gentle, familiar voice seemed to echo in her ears. “Why are you always so careless, getting yourself hurt again? Does it hurt?”

The tears she’d held back the entire ride broke like a dam, flooding down her cheeks until her face was wet.

Her voice trembled. “Gerald, you’re not here… No one wants to protect me anymore.”

“The wounds don’t hurt. But the world without you is so cold… Please, don’t leave me alone.”

Her vision blurred, and for a moment she could almost see his face again—the face that had stayed gentle right until the end.

A face that held nothing but her.

If not for that car accident, Gerald would still be here by her side, her knight protecting her.

Maybe they would have already gone from campus sweethearts to a married couple, certificate and all.

But all that beauty shattered with the screech of brakes.

He’d pushed her out from under the tires, taking her place beneath the wheels. Crimson blood spread in a wide, dark pool.

In her arms, he grew cold, still. Later, he became a handful of ashes.

Following his final wish, Jennifer signed the organ donor forms. Six months later, she found her way to Brandon.

Tears fell in heavy drops, soaking her collar and stinging the ointment-smeared burns.

“Gerald, it’s my fault. I trusted the wrong person. No wonder I could never melt that icy heart of his…”

She wiped her tears, voice thick.

“It’s a good thing I’m done waiting. I’ll come find you soon.”