22
After returning to Canada, I threw myself into wedding preparations. With each passing day, I stayed busy, so busy that Miguel slowly faded from my thoughts.
The butler knocked gently at my door. “Madam, today’s your scheduled wedding dress fitting. But it’s pouring outside. Shall I reschedule it for you?”
I walked to the window and glanced out. “It’s raining again? The forecast said it would be clear..” Then, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Miguel standing beyond the iron gate.
Soaked to the bone, he clutched a bulging bag in his arms. His entire figure looked pitiful, drenched, and miserable.
I frowned slightly. If the paparazzi got a picture of this, it’d be all over the headlines, and I’d be swarmed by reporters and fans again..
So, I picked up an umbrella and made my way down, intent on persuading him to leave.
The moment Miguel saw me, a flicker of light returned to his dull eyes.
“Belle, you’re finally willing to see me…’
”
“I couldn’t reach you by phone,” he said, holding the bag tighter. “I heard you’re getting married so I brought your favorite…”
“Miguel,” I cut him off, voice calm, “you’re disrupting my life.”
Miguel froze as if it had just dawned on him what he was doing.
“Belle, don’t worry. No one followed me. I lost the paparazzi.”
It was only then that I noticed the mud-splattered suit he wore had a long tear, and beneath it, his skin was a bloody mess.
Pale skin against vivid crimson was jarring.
Seeing my silence, Miguel gently offered me the bag he had been shielding from the rain.
‘This is your favorite wedding dress. I know you’ll never forgive me, but I still wanted to do something…”
From one corner of the bag, I caught a glimpse of white fabric studded with firework-shaped diamonds.
paused, trying to remember where that dress had come from.
After coming to Canada, my nerves had finally loosened.
Under Marcus’s patient care, all the old pain felt like a distant echo.
The things I once held so dear had long been buried deep in my memory.
‘No need.”
I stepped back. “I haven’t liked fireworks in a long time.”
And I no longer liked Miguel either.
I didn’t say it out loud, but I knew he understood.
Without looking back, I turned and walked toward the house.
The light in Miguel’s eyes slowly dimmed. His hand dropped helplessly to his side.
The white wedding dress slipped from his grasp, falling into the muddy rainwater, its fabric quickly swallowed by dirt and shadows.
A muffled thunderclap sounded outside. I glanced out the window and saw Miguel still stubbornly standing there, his body swaying.
Until he suddenly collapsed to the ground.
