Chapter 2

I woke up on the deck of the rescue ship.

My chest was wrapped in bandages, my left leg was strapped into a splint, and my arm was in a cast.

The doctor said I'd been in the water for over twenty minutes, and they had almost lost me.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I said was, "Where's Luna?"

The doctor paused.

"Miss Sutton wasn't hurt. Lucas just swallowed some water."

I closed my eyes and didn't ask anything else.

Luna didn't show up until after the rescue ship had docked.

Lucas followed behind her, his arm wrapped in gauze.

When he saw I was awake, a guilty look came over his face right away.

"Adrian, I'm sorry. If I hadn't been feeling sick, Luna would have noticed the sea pulling you away..."

I turned my face away.

Luna walked up to the bed, and her eyes landed on the cast on my arm.

Her gaze lingered there for a moment.

Then Lucas started coughing.

She turned at once to steady him.

"The doctor said you can't get cold. Why are you still dressed so lightly?"

She pulled his jacket closed around him before she looked back at me.

"I heard you let go of the lifeboat out there. Was it because you saw me give the oxygen tank to Lucas?"

I didn't answer.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, her voice softening.

"Don't sulk."

I looked down at my bandaged hands.

"I almost died."

Her fingertips went stiff, and a trace of weariness showed in her eyes.

"Lucas has asthma. If he doesn't get enough oxygen, he could die."

"And what about me?"

She was quiet for a few seconds.

"You survived, didn't you?"

She said it softly, but it went into me like a needle, straight to the deepest part of my chest.

Suddenly I remembered the year I was sixteen, when she'd come down with a fever and collapsed on a mountain trail.

I carried her on my back for two miles. When she woke up, she threw her arms around my neck and cried, saying, Adrian, you can never die.

So it turned out those words had only held true before she met Lucas.

Luna took a document out of her bag.

"Let's postpone the wedding. We'll talk about it again once Lucas's health is stable."

She said it calmly, as if she were only rescheduling a meeting.

I looked at her.

"What if I don't agree?"

She frowned.

"Adrian, can you not push me on this?"

It hit me then that she wasn't discussing it with me.

She was just informing me.

Beside her, Lucas spoke quietly.

"Luna, I'm feeling a little dizzy."

Luna got up at once and helped him toward the door without looking at me again.

I called after her, my throat tight.

"Have you ever really trusted me?"

Her eyes faltered.

But Lucas called her name again.

In the end, all she said was, "You need to rest right now."

The door closed.

Lying in the hospital bed, I opened a message from the wedding planner.

[Miss Sutton just let us know that the venue and the guest list are both canceled.]

I stared at that line for a long time.

Then I replied:

[No need to reschedule.]