Chapter 2

Ten years---time had been exceptionally kind to him.

Except for the fine lines at the corners of his eyes, he was still the tall, handsome man I remembered.

Only now, from head to toe, there was no trace of the man who used to be covered in mud, wearing camouflage fatigues.

The way he looked at me---shocked, flustered, even frightened.

My stomach churned, and the familiar taste of rust flooded my throat.

I dug my nails hard into the web of my hand to keep myself from losing control on the spot.

Ten years ago, it had been an afternoon just like this.

Holding the pregnancy test with its two red lines, I'd been so excited that I immediately called Ethan.

His voice had sounded tired but still gentle.

"What's wrong, baby?"

I took a deep breath, about to speak, when the sharp sound of an assembly whistle came through his end.

"I've got an urgent mission. I have to leave right now for preliminary reconnaissance."

"I might lose contact for a while. Wait for me to come back."

*Wait for me to come back.*

Those words became my only comfort through ten long years of waiting.

But what I got instead was a death notification two years later.

Ethan's mother cried and begged me to remarry while I was still young, to find a good man.

But I didn't believe it.

I refused to believe that the man who promised to stay with me forever would be willing to leave me behind.

I even wondered if maybe he didn't know about the pregnancy, if that regret was what kept him from returning.

So I stubbornly gave birth to our son and named him Lucas.

Day after day, night after night, I thought of him and longed for him.

I believed that as long as I waited, he would eventually come back.

Now, he was back.

With a woman who shared an intimate bond with him, and an adorable daughter.

"Serena?"

My son's teacher, Jennifer Smith, smiled warmly, though there was a hint of showing off in her expression.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Her hand on Ethan's arm tightened, as if asserting her ownership.

Ethan glanced at Jennifer's hand on his arm, then looked at me.

The little girl in his arms---the one called Zoe---was staring at me curiously with eyes that were identical to his.

My chest felt unbearably tight.

I forced myself to calm down and smiled slightly.

"No, just a bit of low blood sugar."

"Oh, you should really take care of yourself," Jennifer said with concern, then changed the subject.

"Actually, I called you in today because Lucas got into a fight with our Zoe."

"Kids will be kids, but Lucas pushed Zoe down and she hit her forehead. That's not a small matter."