Part 2Love's Endless Resentment

At seven in the evening, after disappearing for a full six hours, Cole finally showed up.

He looked pale, and his eyes were full of guilt. “Jasmine, I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Raven… I couldn’t just let her die. Saving people is my duty.”

I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth. “There are other firefighters. Did they really need you, specifically?”

My voice was sharper than I intended. “She chose today, of all days, to jump. And she wouldn’t come down until you got there. What do you think her intentions are, Cole? I’m not an idiot.”

He was silent for a long time, then took my cold hand in his. His voice was raw. “Jasmine, in seven years, I’ve never asked you for anything. Just this once, I’m begging you. Please, don’t make a big deal out of this. Don’t cause any trouble for Raven, okay? I’m afraid with her condition… she couldn’t handle the blowback.”

I stared at the desperate plea in his eyes, and my heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vise, the pain taking my breath away.

He shouldn’t be begging me for favors. He should be apologizing.

A person’s first reaction is always the most honest. He hadn’t thought about how humiliated I was, left alone at our wedding. He wasn’t worried about why I’d ended up in the hospital. His first words, his first thoughts, were all about Raven.

Tears fell like broken pearls, splashing onto the white sheets and spreading into dark, wet stains.

It took all my strength to force a single word from my throat. “Fine.”

He visibly relaxed. “Raven is very unstable, knowing that I was getting married. Let’s postpone the wedding for now.”

His voice was careful, testing the waters. “I’ll stay with her while she gets treatment. Once she’s a bit more stable… maybe three months. Just three months, and then we’ll have our wedding. Okay?”

I had waited seven years. Another three months shouldn’t have mattered. But looking at the concern for another woman shining in his eyes, I suddenly felt that I couldn’t wait even three more months.

The tiny life inside me seemed to sense my turmoil and gave a soft flutter. I placed a hand on my abdomen, where a six-week-old secret was hidden. It was ours, his and mine, but it felt like it had nothing to do with him anymore.

Slowly, I pulled my hand back. My voice was as still and dead as a stagnant pond. “Cole.”

“I don’t have the best memory, but I remember when I was seventeen, and you handed me that love letter on the track field, so nervous you were walking with your arm and leg on the same side moving together.”

“I remember the first time you held my hand, your palm was sweating so much, and you didn’t let go for three whole blocks.”

“I remember on our college graduation day, you held me and said you’d take care of me for the rest of my life, that you’d make me the happiest bride in the world.”

“All these years, you remembered that I hate cilantro, that I need ginger tea during my period, you remembered all my little quirks… I always thought you cherished me, that I was the most important person in your world.”

I looked up at him, and the tears finally broke free. “But today, I can’t feel your love for me anymore.”

Seven years of memories swirled in my mind. Cole’s eyes reddened too. A single tear escaped and traced a path down his cheek. “But Jasmine… Raven needs me right now.”

She needs me. Those three words shattered the last of my illusions.

I looked at him and suddenly, I laughed, a broken, tear-filled sound. “Then go to her.”

He stared, clearly not expecting me to say that. But in the end, he didn’t argue. He turned and walked out of the hospital room.