“I missed you so much…” he suddenly proclaimed, staring at her.
Niamh’s heart shook and she was about to push him away. However, the man only reached over to caress her face.
Skin met skin, and she stared into Kendrick’s eyes, stunned. There was a subtle flicker of light within that had given her cheeks a warm flush.
“Let me go, Kendrick.”
“No. I’ll never let you go again…” he muttered as his fingertips continued to trace her brows. Every touch was gentle like he was touching his beloved treasure.
Niamh was at a loss and her heart began to thump erratically in her chest.
She had no idea what Kendrick was thinking, but she was certain that his eyes were filled with so much tenderness that she might just fall for him again if she stared any longer.
Once again, she reached out to push the man away, only for Kendrick to lean down to press his cold lips against hers, mingling their heated breaths.
Niamh’s eyes shot wide open. She never expected Kendrick to kiss her.
His eyes closed as his thick lashes fluttered, falling into two sets of shadows under the street lights.
His expression had never been more serious.
Getting the feeling that Kendrick was about to deepen the kiss, Niamh immediately turned her face to the side.
His lips were planted on the side of her cheek instead. He then buried his head in the crevice of her neck as he leaned weakly against her. “I’ve missed you so much…” he murmured. His eyes and heart were filled with Niamh Delgado in his drunken haze, the very Niamh Delgado who he realized too late he was in love with…
Niamh felt that she would have fallen had it not been for the car behind her supporting her up.
A person’s weight doubled when they were drunk, and Kendrick had just drifted off to sleep during the absurdity of the situation.
The autumn wind began to blow, clearing the flush and warmth on her face.
The first light of dawn broke through the horizon, waking Kendrick from his dream. Opening his eyes, memories of the night before slowly surfaced in his mind. Niamh had felt so real, and the warmth of their kiss seared in the back of his head.
He took a look at his surroundings and realized that he had fallen asleep in his car. His clothes were unkempt, and Vera was nowhere to be found.
Alighting the car, he was met with a familiar silhouette meeting the morning wisps of autumn wind just as he turned around. Barefoot on the sand, the woman’s flushed cheeks and fair elegance was a replica of the woman in his dreams.
‘Niamh.’
He muttered the name internally and made his way toward her.
Seeing Kendrick make his way over, Niamh turned her back against the sea and smiled at him. “Awake?”
Kendrick nodded, his eyes slightly apologetic. “Did I… accidentally do something improper to you last night?”
Niamh furrowed her brows in distress. “I suppose the phrase ‘alcohol is a precursor to sex’ isn’t entirely wrong.”
Kendrick’s expression immediately changed. “You mean…”
“How do you plan to take responsibility, Kendrick?”
Kendrick’s pupils contracted. “You mean, last night, we…”
Niamh nodded before he could finish speaking.
Distress immediately surfaced on Kendrick’s features.
He admitted that he was infatuated with the woman in front of him, but he was also clear that such infatuation was an extrapolation of the yearning he felt for Niamh.
He meant it when he said he wanted to marry her, but he had never thought of engaging in any form of skin-on-skin relationship with another woman after Niamh.
He had approached Vera out of selfishness. He wanted to stare at the features of someone who looked exactly like Niamh a little longer, just so he could ease the guilt within him.
Yet right now…
He felt like a b*stard.
He claimed that he loved her, yet he found himself unable to withstand the allure of another woman in his moment of drunkenness.
“Look at you. You seem distressed. Why? Because I remind you of the ex-wife you hated so much? You must feel disgusting and dirty.”
Niamh’s frigid words brought him back to reality.
Staring at her innocent features that were glowing under the morning light, she looked just like ‘her’. He found himself unable to describe such angelic beauty with the word ‘dirty’.
While he could not remember every detail of the night before, Kendrick admitted that he had a nice dream last night—one that involved the warmth of Niamh’s body.
Staring at the complex feelings swimming in Kendrick’s eyes, Niamh’s lips quirked into a smile before they were pressed into a cold line.
“I get it. Please don’t look for me ever again, Mr. Waldburg. Our relationship ends here.”
She brushed past him just as her cold tone fell.
Kendrick immediately snapped back from his thoughts. “Vera.”
He ran after her in big steps to pull the woman who did not even spare a glance behind her back.
Niamh pulled her arm out of his grasp and continued to make her way forward. She must have stepped on something, for she felt a sharp stab of pain shoot up from the bottom of her feet, causing her to bend forward instinctively.
Chupse!
“What’s wrong?” Kendrick reached out to support Niamh’s arm in concern. Seeing the frown on her face and how she was tiptoeing on her right foot, he immediately held her foot and squatted to take a look.
Amidst the white sand was a sharp shard of glass, its tip tinted with blood.
Without a second thought, Kendrick immediately went to hold Niamh by her waist. “Let me have a look at your wound first.”
“I don’t need your help.” Niamh pushed him away, tiptoeing her way forward by herself.
Kendrick could not help but be reminded of Niamh as he stared at the woman’s stubborn figure.
That was just how strong she was. She would stubbornly hold her head up no matter how horrid the torture she was suffering.
Quickly reining his thoughts back, he took wide steps to catch up to Niamh and carried her horizontally with a hand on her waist.
“What are you doing, Kendrick Waldburg? Put me down!” She protested, distaste apparent on her features.
Paying Niamh’s struggle no heed, Kendrick continued to make his way along the street with her in his arms. His expression was unchanging.
He walked purposefully along the path that led to April Hill’s small town.
Niamh stopped fighting back as well, for the path reminded her of the scene from more than ten years ago.
Her foot had also been pierced by a shard of glass back then, and a 12-year-old Kendrick then piggybacked her to the town’s health center.
She remembered how he had comforted her the entire way as well as the promises he made to protect her from then onward.
In the end, not only had he not given her the slightest protection, but he even took part in causing her pain.
Her eyes reddened without her noticing. She never expected such details of the past to still mean so much to her.
Kendrick lowered his gaze to find Niamh’s eyes brimming with tears. He was confused and stunned. His heart was clenching inexplicably at the sight.
For a moment, Kendrick found himself unsure whether the pain in his heart was for the Niamh he had loved a little too late or for the woman currently in his arms.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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