The Way Back | ✓

9.4

note: I've been super busy lately and I completely missed TWB hitting 15k reads! Thank you lovelies for your continued support. Please do leave your thoughts in the comments and vote if you enjoyed the chapter. Enjoy, lovelies xx

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Andrew seemed to be wherever London went.

Almost nine months had passed since their last encounter, since Valentine's Day. The late autumn November air brought in chilliness, the promise of an even colder winter this year and London could almost taste the bittersweetness of it all in the atmosphere.

She first crossed paths with Andrew in November. Her mother's death anniversary was in November. She and her sister reconciled their differences in November.

Quite a few things had happened in this month, all momentous — all of which held a special place in her heart.

The first few months had been hard. London had been in love with Andrew — she still was — and there hadn't been a day that passed when she didn't think of him. Everywhere she looked, everything she did — there was something that had been always there to remind her of him, and that constant reminder had made her heart ache more, make her yearn for him more.

As the months flew by she expected herself to forget details about their relationship. It was only natural. The past was never remembered in such vivid detail. There was always going to be something that was forgotten. It was human, after all.

And there were things that London had forgotten, but there were things she could never forget. Like the way he laughed, the way it rumbled from the depths of his chest and made her feel warm. She could never forget the way he kissed her, soft caresses when he was gentle and fierce kisses when he was hungry. Or the way he made certain that she was always comfortable, the way he cared, the way he fluffed her pillow when she got home from a long day of work, the way he massaged her feet when she'd been out all day in heels, the way he listened to her rant about her career though he hadn't much an idea about it, the way he loved his daughter, the way he was sincere and kind, the way —

The list was endless.

London had forgotten a few things about Andrew, but she hadn't forgotten the most important parts of him.

She might not think of him on a daily basis anymore but she still did think of him. She missed him and her heart never grew bitter when she thought of him. Only fonder.

When she saw him through the window, sitting at a table in the Golden Quaff, a well-known cafe around this part of town, she did a double-take. Porte Orlands was not a big town but neither was it so small that everyone knew everyone. It was not so difficult to avoid bumping into him.

It had been almost nine months. Nine months. He looked so different from when she last saw him at the pub on Valentine's. He didn't look like a wreck. His stubble was gone and the sight of his defined jaw made her fingers tingle. He was wearing a suit — a new one by the looks of it, and damn did it fit his body perfectly from this angle. What caught her attention the most was the fact that he looked happy. He was smiling that toothy, playful grin of his. He was smiling — at Aurora.

Aurora, his daughter, was in Porte Orlands. When did that happen? And how? Was Talia back too? Or was she still all the way in Ipswich throwing a fit that Aurora was here in Porte Orlands? Did... Andrew finally file for sole custody? Did he win?

So many questions bombarded her and all she could do was stare through the window.

He looked so happy. He certainly looked at peace. As someone who was pretending she was over the heartbreak and had moved on, she knew how deceiving appearances could be and though she wondered if Andrew had actually moved on, if he was truly happy and satisfied now she wished him the very best. Her heart didn't ache as much as she thought it would if she were to ever see him again. There was a dull ache in it, a deep yearning, but it was hidden beneath the contentedness of Andrew being happy. All she wanted for him was happiness and if this was it, if it didn't include her, so be it.