The pain of my severed tendons, the agony of never being able to play the piano again, the loss of my dream—it all flashed through my mind. But I wasn’t weak enough to ask him why he had fallen for her. That would make me seem pathetic.
Guilt flickered briefly across Yzail’s face. “Zolenn made a mistake in a moment of impulse back then. The law already punished her, and she’s been remorseful for years. She’s apologizing now. Why hold on to the past?”
A moment of impulse? Was destroying my future just a fleeting mistake for him? The chronic pain I endured whenever it rained was something I was supposed to let go of.
Not forgiving her made me petty in his eyes.
Back then, Yzail had been by my side in the emergency room, holding my hand, sharing in my hatred for Zolenn. Now, he wanted me to forgive her.
When he reached for my hand to encourage reconciliation, I slapped it away and said bitterly,
“Yzail, you didn’t have your tendons severed. What right do you have to ask me to forgive the person who almost killed me?”
If Yzail hadn’t blocked the knife that day, I wouldn’t even be alive.
Just because he took the blow for me, did that mean I had to forgive her? I wasn’t as magnanimous as he wanted me to be.
His face hardened, and his tone became authoritative.
“Lanaya, I’m doing this for your own good. You’ve always been withdrawn. Zolenn was your only close friend for years. Why not bury the hatchet and rekindle that friendship? You have to move forward in life, don’t you?”
His words were firm, almost domineering, but the warmth and tenderness I once knew were gone. The pain in my abdomen and heart made it hard to even breathe, but I noticed the hidden satisfaction in Zolenn’s tear-filled eyes. The same satisfaction she had shown when she had gone mad that day.
“Lanaya, even if you don’t forgive me, I’ll keep repenting. One day, I hope we can be friends again,” Zolenn said, her voice trembling with feigned remorse.
“Get lost!” I spat out.
I held onto the car door to steady myself, fighting back the pain. But Yzail’s impatience was evident.
“Lanaya, forgiveness is divine. Zolenn has already paid the price. Are you trying to drive her to death?”
His voice echoed the same concern he once had for me when I was covered in blood after Zolenn’s attack. Now, that same worry was directed toward her. What had changed? What made him turn against me and defend her?