Second Love [Completed]

13.Regrets & Disappearence

Susan's P.O.V.

People always talk about how one moment can change everything, how life can turn upside down in an instant. I never understood the weight of those words until now. Until the very foundation of my world cracked beneath me, leaving me grasping at nothing but shattered illusions.

I wish I had never come back home. I should have stayed in Aspen, hidden away from the truth that burned through my chest like wildfire. But no amount of wishing can rewrite the past. What's done is done. And I saw it—clear as day, undeniable, irreversible. It wasn't some horrible dream I could wake up from. It was my life unraveling before my eyes.

I sit frozen in my convertible, gripping the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles turn white. Lisa is inside, waiting, unaware that the woman who left isn't the same one sitting in this car now. I should go inside. Let her console me. Let her help me make sense of this. But I can't. I can't say the words out loud because once I do, they become real. And I can't bear that reality.

My chest feels hollow, my heart an aching void. My mind races for answers, searching for a reason—anything—to explain why he did this to me. Didn't I mean something to him? Didn't he think of me at all when he was betraying me? Was I ever enough?

A memory hits me like a knife to the chest. I remember the night Adrian told me I was his forever. We were sitting by the lake, his jacket draped over my shoulders, the stars reflecting in his eyes. "It's always going to be you, Susan," he had whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "No one else could ever come close."

And I had believed him. Every word. Every promise.

I remember how he'd fight for me, how he made me feel safe. Like the time Ryan wouldn't leave me alone in senior high school—following me around, making me uncomfortable, cornering me when no one was watching. I had been too afraid to tell anyone, too exhausted from the fear of what might happen if I did. But Adrian had noticed. He had seen the way I shrank away, how I flinched when Ryan was near. And one night, without hesitation, he confronted him.

I remember standing frozen as Adrian pushed Ryan against the wall, his voice low, dangerous. "If you ever come near her again, I swear you'll regret it," he had growled. Ryan had laughed it off at first—until Adrian threw a punch that sent him staggering. "She's mine. And you will never make her feel unsafe again."

That was the Adrian I had fallen for. The man who made me feel like I was untouchable, protected, safe in a world that so often made me feel small. The man who kissed me like I was his entire world.

And now, that world had been nothing but a beautifully crafted lie. A cruel, sick joke. The way he kissed me like I was his entire world. And now, that world had been nothing but a beautifully crafted lie. A cruel, sick joke.

Now, the same lips that once swore loyalty to me had touched someone else. The same hands that held me as if I was precious had wandered to another woman without hesitation.

The realization hits like a punch to the stomach, knocking the breath from my lungs. It was all a scam. A mirage I was stupid enough to believe in. My entire love story—my entire heart—meant nothing.

Another memory crashes into me, twisting the knife even deeper. I remember the day my Ivy League acceptance letter arrived—my ticket to a world of endless opportunities. My father had been so proud, my mother had cried tears of joy. But Adrian... Adrian had been so happy for me. I remember the way his face lit up when I told him about my Ivy League acceptance, how he picked me up and spun me around, telling me how proud he was. "You did it, Susan. You can have anything you want," he had said, eyes full of nothing but admiration.