Lou Moreau, the beautiful independent woman who is fond of literature breaks up with his loyal perfect lover, Paul Durand, the heir of one of the most influential companies in Paris yet has dark side.
As Lou tries to escape from her break-up, she go...
It felt too far As I stepped closer to you It felt too dark As I opened my eyes at you It felt too uneasy As I knew that it was always you
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Lou's mouth widened as she saw the book. She quickly stood up and pushed her away from Adrien. Adrien stared at her confusingly. He turned his head around as he saw her passing him and was about to drown herself in the sea of people, "Lou! Where are you going?"
Lou turned her head responding, "Just stay! I'll be right back."
Lou walked as fast as she could to chase after the man that she suspected to be Alex. She narrowed her eyes from a few kilometers in the inside of the park and saw him exiting the park. She kept following him behind and started to run a lil bit faster. When she was exactly a few miles behind him, he slowly stopped as a black sedan honked twice at him. He turned to his head to the car and smiled. The sun was flashing towards Lou brightly until it made her harder to see if that was really Alex or not because his figure somehow turned into shadow and her insight was being overloaded with lights. Her feeling kept saying that it was him since she could feel his presence somehow.
She ran faster as he was getting in a black sedan. She ran faster and faster but she couldn't make it, the car had left her already. She sighed heavily as she looked around to find a cab. She turned back and walked around if there was taxi nearby. As she was flustered with situation, she saw a bike parked near bus stop. Without hesitation, Lou ran to the bike and dragged it to the road right away. She didn't forget to leave a note on the pole of the bus stop saying, "I'm borrowing your bike. Call me down below" with her number written under the message. She swiftly rode the bike to catch the car that Alex just got in. Lou kept pushing the bike pedals rapidly until she could feel sweat started wetting her shirt. She was approximately one mile behind the car. The car got slower near a park she thought. And it was a park.
The car stopped in front of the park gate and the man whom Lou thought was Alex got out of the car, still holding the book. Lou was still exactly one mile behind the car and she stopped to analyze if that was really Alex or not. She only could see his back whilst his face never showed to her direction. Lou pushed the bike pedals as she got closer to the park gate. She parked the bike nowhere without following the rules as she just landed it there on the pedestrian walk. She looked around as she realized that she was entering Giardino Valentino Bompiani, a park that was not even written in the investigation list. She walked faster and she was exactly a half mile behind him. He was wearing a white shirt and black denim pants. His hair was perfectly cut like the man she noticed at Paul's party, the man that she thought it was Alex.
She somehow could feel something that she usually felt in Cambridge. The feeling that Alex could only make her feel that way. The unusual heart beating rhythm, unusual breath frequency and unusual blinks she made. It was integrated into something that she never felt before but only Alex who could do this though he never exactly did something to make her feel that way explicitly, she thought it was voodoo but she thought it was just simply her feelings. Unexplained feelings.
He walked to the left approaching a small octagonal monument. The park was really quiet and people seem barely visited that place. She only could hear birds whistling through her ears, the sound of leaves falling and messing around her ways to follow that man, the dancing wind touching her hair sending cold kisses around her naked neck. As Lou was enjoying the small beatitudes around, he suddenly stopped. He stood still in front of the octagonal monument, staring at it from the top to the bottom. Lou stopped and she was only a few steps away from him. She was standing there staring at him from behind. She somehow felt so sure that it was really him. She could feel his presence which sent warmth to her cold body. Her heart started to beat faster than ever. She wanted to speak but she still had no idea what to say. She looked down, thinking, letting the air in and out to her lungs.
"Sometimes," the man spoke. Lou's eyes widened as she heard that and looked at him right away but he was still there staring at the monument blankly. "Something. Somewhere. Someday. Can be integrated into somewhat beautiful. Look at the bottom of this monument, it's an octagonal. Imagine each side of this polygon shape illustrates an opened door to million pathways. And everyone in this polygon shape can decide the door they want to enter freely without the urge to think twice. And that's why everyone decides and we definitely do have some say against our decision."
Lou stared at him, listening to each word he said solemnly. His voice was something that she had been wanted to listen to. His voice was music to her ear and from that moment she realized, it was him. It was Alex.
"If you were in there, which door would you choose?" Lou responded, asking curiously as she tried to hide her shaky voice because of her nervousness.
He sighed, remaining silent. "The door in front of me."
Lou gulped, trying to process what he just said. "Why?"
He sighed. Again. He looked up and saw the sky. He slowly turned around to Lou's direction. Lou's heart was beating much faster until she found breathing was some kind of exercise for her whenever she was around Alex. He was wearing white shirt with stiff collar on his neck and two buttons unbuttoned but still looked proper. He put his left hand on his pocket and the other one was holding the book. He smiled and his smile brought Lou back to the first time she saw him in Arnold Arboretum, the frigid brunette whom she never thought that she would fall in love without reason. It was him. It was really him. His eyes spoke a thousand words, words that couldn't even be explained but only felt. He slowly opened his mouth to answer Lou's question, that time he seemed uneasy to answer it. "It is secret," He smiled. "Because I decided to keep it to myself."
Lou stared at him deeply. She wanted to smile but her face seemed to show more tears somehow. It had been a year she hadn't seen his face. Lou didn't say much, "Alex."
"Lou," Alex smiled, approaching her slowly. He smiled, staring at her eyes deeply. "I knew you were there."
"I found you." Lou chuckled, seeming to cry mostly. "The carved stem, Prospero, The Tempest and Milan. I solved it. Why did you do that?"
Alex nodded as he looked into her eyes, "I should've not done that."
"But why?" Lou got more confused and she started blurt things out. "You left those clues from the beginning until now. You always make me feel clueless, Alex. My mind was always full with the thought of your clues, especially the carved stem you left in Arnold Arboretum, the place that we first met. You drove me to Paul and when I turned my back, you disappeared. And your disappearance lasted for one year. You even never texted Paul a few weeks after your disappearance, though you did but you totally disappeared after that. I've been looking for you everywhere and now you're in Milan, why Alex? Why?"
"Because I couldn't bear it." Alex responded shortly.
Lou's eyes widened and she remained silent. Alex walked closer and continued, "I couldn't bear to see you with him. I have the feeling that I can't explain to you, Lou. And this is wrong, so I keep denying the feeling by moving in to Milan. I know you're getting married 3 days later, I know about the proposal, the party in the penthouse in Paris, everything, even the urge of Paul trying to find the angel that I told him," Alex seemed to try so hard to stabilize his voice since it got kind of shaky. "Because the angel that I told him was actually you. I never knew if it was you. I never knew if the woman that I'm falling in love with is actually my best friend's fiancé. And that's why I left Cambridge and started to make a new life here but nothing changed because I'm still in love with you."
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