Chapter 1

My fiancé, James Carter, took a knife for his first love, Sophie Lane. He thought I'd wait by his hospital bed. The next day, a friend asked, "Wait, Lucia was stationed abroad. She can't be here." James lost it and ran to the airport.

*****

At our engagement party, the place was packed with guests, everyone in high spirits. But then James suddenly got a call and rushed out.

My heart sank. I figured it must be an emergency at the hospital. I didn't complain and then apologized to every guest one by one.

By the time I dragged myself back to my apartment, my feet were killing me. I collapsed onto the couch and grabbed my phone, only to see his first love had posted a photo on Twitter.

The photo captured James's side profile against the dazzling fireworks over the Hinston coast. His smile was impossibly tender.

So James could actually smile like that? I'd never seen that side of him before.

The first time I met him was five years ago, when he was my mom's doctor. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Your mom's heart failure is really serious. She might not make it through the month."

I was crying so hard my legs felt weak, tears streaming down my face, but James didn't hand me a tissue. Right then, I made up my mind: he was a cold, heartless doctor.

But later, I slowly realized he wasn't that kind of person at all. Whenever I went out to grab food, James would peel apples for my mom and bring her water.

In the middle of the night, he'd pass by her room every twenty minutes, standing at the door for a few seconds, checking the monitors and her condition.

He noticed my wrist was inflamed and quietly left a tube of anti-inflammatory cream outside the duty room for me.

Once we got together, James kept up that same thoughtful attention to detail. He wasn't one for words, but he showed he cared in everything he did.

He remembered that I didn't eat mushrooms, knew that my periods were brutal, and would even book tickets to plays I wanted to see ahead of time to surprise me.

My bestie once doubted if James really liked me, but I defended him without hesitation. "James has a sharp tongue, and he's not the type to smile much. But I know he loves me."

She shook her head, looking helpless. "But Lucia, when you really like someone, you can't hide it in your eyes. When James looks at you, there's no spark in his eyes at all."

I didn't take that seriously at the time. But when I saw this photo today, I finally understood what people mean when they said, "Love shows in the eyes". Some people really did look at one like that.

In the photo, James was wearing the coat I had carefully draped over his shoulders, right before he rushed off from the engagement party, worried that he might get cold.

I switched off my phone and tried to breathe, fighting that muddy, suffocating pain in my chest. It wasn't until the sky started to lighten that James finally walked in.

He froze for a second when he saw me sitting there on the couch, looking lost. "Have you been here all night? Why didn't you change out of your dress or get some sleep?" he asked.

I lifted my sore, puffy eyes and met his gaze. "You left yesterday without texting me. How was I supposed to sleep?" I said.

Half a year ago, there was a sudden mudslide in Northgate, a neighboring province. James got called in by the hospital for emergency rescue work and left in such a rush that he didn't have time to say goodbye.

For a whole week, I couldn't reach him at all. I was so worried I couldn't sleep a wink, not until I finally got that call from him, to let me know he was safe.

After that, James promised me that no matter where he had to go on short notice, he'd always let me know ahead of time.

James looked away and said, "There was an emergency surgery at the hospital last night. I didn't have time to let you know."

Lucia thought, 'Hearing his awkward lie, my heart sank further. I didn't call him out on it, nodded. "Yeah, as long as you're back safe."

Then I headed upstairs to the bathroom on the second floor. But as I passed James, a strong scent of bergamot suddenly hit my nose.