Chapter 3

Gabriel didn’t go find Tiana.

Instead, he went to a bar alone and got completely wasted.

When the bartender called me, I could hear him muttering to himself in the background.

"Ma'am, this gentleman has you saved in his phone as 'Wifey.' Can you come pick him up?" the bartender asked.

I hesitated.

"Is he... alone? Is there no girl next to him?"

"You're Miss Ryker, right?" The bartender quickly confirmed, his voice warm with a smile.

"He’s completely alone, and he keeps calling your name. It's normal for couples to fight, but it's obvious this guy loves you a lot."

I forced a faint smile, gripped my keys, and headed out.

When I arrived at the lounge, I spotted Gabriel instantly.

He was floating face down, completely motionless, in the middle of the bar's indoor pool.

I called his name several times, but he didn't move.

Even though he had broken my heart so many times, panic instantly seized me.

I dove into the water and swam to his side to pull him up.

But the moment I reached him, the man suddenly burst out laughing.

"I knew you still loved me," Gabriel murmured, his breath smelling of alcohol as he leaned close, his words dripping with smug affection.

I went completely cold.

"You did this on purpose? To test me?"

Gabriel nodded proudly.

"Tiana helped me come up with the idea. She said true love is Jack dying for Rose. If you were willing to jump in to save me, then I would forgive you."

Right on cue, Tiana stepped out from the shadows, smiling and waving at me with a massive bouquet of ninety-nine red roses.

A laugh escaped my throat.

Drenched, shivering, with my hair plastered to my face, I must have looked like a lunatic.

"You threw yourself into a pool at midnight, just because of something Tiana said? Knowing I'm carrying your child?"

"It's just a pregnancy. You couldn't climb the mountain, and now you're complaining about a pool?" Gabriel frowned, his tone turning dismissive. "Aren't you being a bit too fragile?

“If you're going to be like this, what's the point of us being together?"

Tiana, oblivious to our conversation, waved the roses and called out Gabriel's name from the deck.

I let out a bitter scoff.

"If there's no point, then go be with Tiana. Gabriel, don't you wish the girl who spent the last ten years with you had been her instead?"

Gabriel fell silent for a long time.

It wasn't until Tiana gestured to him again that he seemed to snap out of it.

"That doesn't matter," he finally replied. "What matters is that I don't want to break up with you.

"I don't expect you to understand my soul the way Tiana does, but I still want you by my side."

Because dreams would be dreams, and reality would be reality.

He couldn't let go of his soulmate, Tiana, but he didn't want to lose his reliable girlfriend either.

My mind flashed back to years ago, on our very first trip together.

I sprained my ankle, and Tiana was expertly wrapping my injury.

Gabriel stared at her, completely entranced.

Then, he whispered to her, "I wish I met you sooner."

Sooner. Before he started dating me. Before he ever even met me.

Sitting right beside them, I felt so small and humiliated.

I didn't actually love extreme sports, and I would never skip the SATs for a flash of romance.

Standing before them, my soul felt cheap and ordinary.

Gathering every ounce of strength, I slapped Gabriel hard across the face.

"Gabriel, I wish you had actually drowned," I spat, my voice shaking. "At least then, you wouldn't look so pathetic in my memory."

Suddenly, a sharp, blinding pain flared in my abdomen.

A loud buzzing filled my ears, drowning out the noise of the bar.

What was happening to me?

Three seconds later, the world went completely black.