Chapter 2

"Try to stay out of trouble when you get out," the guard advised as the iron gate clanged shut behind me, cutting off the sky that had confined me for fifteen years.

The sunlight stung my eyes, making me squint as I greedily breathed in the air of freedom.

It didn't smell of the familiar earth I remembered, just the cold scent of car exhaust.

I waited for a long time, until the sun began to set, until I thought he wasn't coming.

But I didn't know where else to go. This world of bustling traffic was so foreign; I'd long forgotten the way home.

So I could only sit by the roadside and keep waiting.

I seemed to be good at waiting. I'd waited for fifteen years.

At first, I waited for William to visit me again. Then I waited for my bullies to be released. Now I was waiting for William to pick me up.

When they contacted my family, he said he'd come for me. He promised, so I believed him.

Until a glossy black sedan silently pulled up in front of me.

The window slowly lowered, revealing a face etched in my memory, yet somewhat unfamiliar.

It was William.

He had lost some weight, his features sharper now. The boyish charm was gone from his brow, replaced by a depth and distance I couldn't quite read.

He wore an impeccable suit I'd never seen before, and on his wrist, a silver watch gleamed aristocratically in the sun.

"Lily," he said, his voice hoarse.

I tried to smile at him, just like I had fifteen years ago.

But my muscles, long unused to such expressions, probably twisted into something uglier than crying.

I walked towards him, my steps unsteady as if I were treading on cotton.

The car door opened, but he didn't get out.

The passenger door opened first, and a girl in a champagne-colored dress stepped out. Her hair was slightly curled, her makeup flawless, like she'd stepped out of a painting.

She naturally walked around to the driver's side, opening the door and affectionately linking her arm with William's.

"Will, is this the country cousin you mentioned?" her voice was as sweet as a oriole's song, her gaze holding a barely concealed curiosity and assessment.