Chapter 13
Terrence trembled as he got to his feet and staggered toward the casket, desperate to find even the smalles, sign that the person inside wasn’t Thea.
He studied every feature, only to confirm that the woman lying there was undeniably Thea, who had been part of his life for five years. But it didn’t make sense.
They’d been on a video call just the day before, and she hadn’t shown any signs of being suicidal. This couldn’t be real.
He thought Thea must have been upset with him for not being there for her lately. She was only acting out, nothing more.
Terrence reached out to touch her face, clinging to the desperate belief that she was only asleep. He convinced himself she would open her eyes if he woke her.
When his trembling fingers met her cold cheek, he managed a faint smile, still unwilling to accept the truth.
“Thea, you’re freezing. Let me warm you up, alright? Once you start feeling better, open your eyes for me. It’s our wedding day. You wouldn’t leave me here, would you?”
Terrence’s voice quivered on the last words.
An attendant approached to support him. “Mr. Hatcher, we offer our deepest sympathies. Ms. Lundy has passed.”
Terrence’s anger erupted. He tore away from the attendant, eyes burning with defiance, and snarled, “No! Thea isn’t dead. She’s only asleep!”
He was moments away from marrying the woman he loved most. How could Thea possibly be dead?
After a brief silence, the attendant handed him Thea’s phone. “Mr. Hatcher, Ms. Lundy ended her life at 6:00 pm yesterday. She mentioned she’d left you a final message on her phone when we arrived.”
6:00 pm?
The timing struck Terrence like a physical blow. He distinctly remembered their video call ended right at 6:00 pm yesterday, immediately followed by his intimate encounter with Alyssa.
His pallor worsened. With unsteady hands, he accepted the phone. Upon opening it, his eyes immediately fell upon several lines of text in the notes application. “Terrence, you were the one who rescued me from my bleak existence when I was 22 years old. You gave me a love no one else could. The five years we spent together were the happiest of my life, though I never anticipated that happiness would be so short–lived.
“The man who once held me and vowed to love me forever had disappeared in merely five years. For your sake, I risked my life traveling abroad for surgery just two weeks ago, just so I could hear you say ‘I do‘ at our wedding ceremony.
“Yet, I never expected that the first words I would hear upon regaining my hearing would be you flirting with another woman. These past two weeks have brought me through devastation and despair before finally settling into resignation.
“I have come to realize that eternal love does not exist. I am grateful for the time you were in my life. But should there be an afterlife, I have no desire to encounter you there.”
Terrence’s composure shattered before he even finished reading the third line. The man who had never been seen weeping now watched his tears fall upon the glowing screen.
Face turning deathly pale, his body wavered precariously until finally his legs failed him, and he sank to his knees.
The truth dawned upon him–Thea had recovered her hearing some time ago. She had known everything all along.
The past two weeks replayed in Terrence’s mind–the way his friends had talked about him and Alyssa at social gatherings, his trysts with Alyssa in their home, leaving Thea alone during wedding preparations to be with Alyssa, permitting Alyssa’s interruptions during his video call with Thea.
chest until breathing became difficult. What terrible things had he done?
Each memory intensified the agony in Irgery for him, while he had taken advantage of her presumed deafness to carry on an affair without consequence.
Thea had risked her life undergoing that
He couldn’t stomach the thought of Thea returning home, thrilled to experience the world with restored hearing, only to overhear him flirting with Alyssa.
A deep sorrow took root in his chest and spread relentlessly. When he’d heard her say “leave“, she hadn’t been referring to any friend’s departure. She had meant
her own.
Looking back, the signs of her approaching death had been there all along. He just hadn’t seen them for what they were.
In his grief–stricken haze, a vision of his 22–year–old st
vows. And now, she’s gone forever as your punishment.”
materialized before him, eyes filled with crushing disappointment. “You betrayed Thea. You broke your
