Seven-Day Loop

I shut my eyes, and my heart raced.

Soon, I heard Brody get up. The sound of his footsteps drew closer to me before leaving my side. Then, he left the study.

I dragged my feet behind him and felt like my entire world was a huge lie.

Yesterday, I had a loyal lover, just like the ones written about in fairy tales. But at this moment, it felt as if someone had pricked the bubble that was my dream, and everything turned to nothing.

Brody had Rose pinned against the couch as he embraced her like an unrestrained horse. They looked like a pair of lovers who could not control themselves around each other, just like in the movies.

I finally knew how Rose got those marks.

The second Brody saw me, the passion in his eyes disappeared, and he reached out to tug Rose’s collar.

Anger made me snap. I rushed in and slapped him across the face. I was so mad that I was trembling.

“Why?! What did I do wrong that you’d humiliate me like this?!”

The tattoo on my arm, the hint at the bottom of the makeup box, and the marks on Rose’s neck… I finally understood everything.

No one would take care of others without expecting anything in return.

“I told you to go to the room, but you insisted on doing it in the living room.” Rose caressed Brody’s cheek with pity on her face. “Look. We messed up when it’s only Tuesday.”

I could not believe my ears and found the entire situation ridiculous. I could not imagine just how many times I had seen this over the past two years.

Brody walked over to me with a dull, unreadable look in his eyes.

“Please just let me leave…”

My body moved ahead of my thoughts. Seemingly in shock, I avoided Brody. But before I could reach the door, he dragged me back and held me tightly.

“Don’t go.”

I trembled like a leaf while he caressed my back with a gentle look on his face.

I absentmindedly thought that the Brody of the past had returned.

“Things have been hell for me over the past two years…” He tightened his hold as if he was worried that he would lose me at the next second.

“Over the past two years, I brought you to Disney World twenty times, and we went to see the aurora five times.” He wore a self-deprecating smile. “But you remember none of it.

“What you saw earlier isn’t what you think. Could you give me another chance?”

Brody choked up, and I felt my heart clench in pain.

The more loving his words were, the more he disgusted me.

Right then, Rose interrupted him.

“Let me talk to Riley,” she said before giving him a look.

After he returned to his room, he did not interrupt us again.

Rose sighed and sat beside me. A long period of silence passed before she hesitantly took out a medical report. Her name was written on it.

How could Rose have stomach cancer?

Rose told me that she had always liked Brody and had loved him for far longer than I had.

However, due to her low self-esteem, she never dared talk about her love. To her, Brody was the unreachable moon in the sky. Meanwhile, I was her best friend and the one who was most worthy of him. Ever since I started pursuing Brody, she decided to hide her love.

This lasted until she learned that she had terminal-stage stomach cancer.

“I don’t have much longer to live, Riley. I’m going to look for a quiet place and live out the rest of my life alone. After I die, you have to live a good life with Brody.”

I stared at her medical report and felt sad.

I did not hate Rose. Whether she had betrayed me intentionally or not, it no longer mattered.

We spoke for a long time. She left after that, but I could not calm down even after a long time had passed.

She was going to die anyway, but I still intended to leave.

When I woke up the next day, I found the house empty.

While there was no one at home, I quickly packed up, but I could not find my passport.

I could not find it even after searching through every nook and cranny. But I did find a battered notebook.

On the cover were two words.

[Leave him.]

With trembling fingers, I flipped the notebook open. The edges were yellowing. By the looks of it, these words had been written far earlier than the words at the bottom of the makeup box.

There were only a few words on the first page, but the contents were terrifying.