Chapter 219

Jeffrey told me that I should watch Andrew’s interview on Good Morning, Day-Walkers! He assured me that it would prove Andrew’s love for me. I was skeptical.

I put off watching it most of the day and did not get around to streaming it until after 5 p.m. When I did, what I saw did not exactly reassure me.

It should have reassured me. It should have been exactly what I was looking for. After all, Andrew played his part almost exactly right.

Andrew said that he loved me. He said it again and again. He defended me and acted as though our fights were nothing.

Yet something very different caught my eye.

I saw a young woman doing everything she could to get the attention of the man she wanted to be with. I saw a young woman who looked at Andrew with big, innocent, loving eyes. I saw a young woman who wanted nothing more than to touch Andrew, even if it was taboo to do so in public.

Above all, I saw a young woman who was so brokenhearted by Andrew’s rejection that it pulled on my own heartstrings to see her holding back her tears. It hurt as much as to see her rejected as it had hurt to think that Andrew had cheated on me. It was as though my own heart were being broken all over again.

Princess Aurora truly loved Andrew.

“Don’t you see?” Jeffrey asked from his post the window across the room. “Andrew truly does love you. You should go talk to him.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t speak. For several minutes, I stared at the paused image of Andrew and Princess Aurora on the Good Morning, Day-Walkers! stage, wondering what they were thinking in that very moment.

I closed the laptop on which I was streaming the show and brushed away my tears. I didn’t know what to think anymore. I needed to talk this out with someone, someone who wasn’t as close to Andrew as Jeffrey was.

I took out my phone and dialed Lily’s number.

“Hello?” Lily answered.

“Hey, Lily,” I said. “It’s Crystal. Do you have time to talk?”

“Hey, Crystal. Yeah, I can talk. What’s going on?”

“Did you see today’s episode of Good Morning, Day-Walkers?”

Lily hesitated.

“You mean the one with Andrew and Princess Aurora?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, I did.”

I could feel the tears pressing against my eyes. I raised my hand to my mouth, even though I knew that it would do no good keeping back my sadness.

“What did you think about the segment?” I asked, choking on my tears.

“I don’t know. I thought it was very sweet how Andrew kept defending you and your love. Why?”

I didn’t respond, just letting my tears flow.

“Crystal, what’s going on?” Lily asked, her tone tinted with concern.

“I…I don’t think I can do this over the phone. Do you think that you can meet up in person?”

“I can get away from the hubby and kid for a while. Do you want to meet me at the Half Moon in thirty for some drinks and wings?”

I smiled slightly, despite myself.

“You know me too well.”

Thirty or so minutes later, we were sitting at the back of the Half Moon, in our usual spot where Jeffrey could be on the lookout for any threats. We ordered a couple beers and some hot wings. We sipped on our complementary water while we waited for our order.

Lily faced me.

“So,” she said, running her index finger along the rim of her water glass, “what’s wrong? What about the Good Morning, Day-Walkers! interview got you so upset?”

“Didn’t you see it?” I asked. “Princess Aurora was all over him, and they…they looked amazing together!”

Lily shrugged.

“And your point is? Andrew said it point-blank for the entire world to hear, he chooses you.”

“But what if he’s choosing the wrong person?”

Lily snorted.

“You’re kidding, right? Do you really think that Andrew should be with Princess Aurora instead of you?”

“Princess Aurora clearly loves him deeply—”

“And you don’t?”

“Ladies, here are your drinks,” their waiter said as he set their beers down in front of us. The wings came next. “And here are your wings.”

“Thank you,” Lily and I said in unison.

“No problem. If there is anything else that you need, please do not hesitate to ask.” He winked almost imperceptibly at me, and I blushed.

Lily smacked me lightly on the arm, and I rolled my eyes at her.

“See? You flirt a little with people, but it doesn’t mean that you’re trying to leave Andrew,” she said before taking a sip of her beer.

“That’s different, Lily. This guy just winked at me and said something flirtatious, but Andrew and Princess Aurora…I can’t explain it. They’re very close.”

“Close how?”

I drank some of my beer, trying to muster up the courage to respond.

“They’re often physically close, almost touching if not actually touching, and emotionally…Princess Aurora called him her best friend. She described him in a way that I have only come across when someone has a very deep emotional connection with someone else.”

“Again, you’re saying that as though you don’t.” Lily took a long drink of her beer before continuing. “Just because this Princess Aurora has feelings for Andrew doesn’t mean that her feelings get to trump yours.”

I stared into my drink, letting the swirling of the light brown liquor hypnotize me for a moment. Lily had a point, and yet I could not shake the feeling that Princess Aurora somehow deserved to be with Andrew more than I did.

“Besides,” Lily said, “I think that Andrew’s feelings mean something as well. Based on what he said in that interview, it’s pretty clear that he still loves you.”

I bit my bottom lip as a thought crossed my mind.

“But what if he just feels obligated to love me?” I asked.

Lily huffed.

“Girl, what are you talking about?”

“I mean, what if he only feels like he has to love me because of all we’ve been through? Because I still love him after all that we have been through together?”

I chugged some beer and dabbed at my mouth with a napkin.

“After all, who in their right mind would willing choose to be with someone like me—a convicted criminal, an assassin magnet, a suspected murderer—over a bonified princess with no baggage?”

Lily chuckled.

“Who said that Princess Aurora didn’t have any baggage? It just hasn’t been uncovered yet.”

“I’m serious, Lily. What if Andrew feels trapped in our relationship?”

Lily sighed and draped her hand on my arm.

“Crystal, I don’t know what’s going on in that head of yours, but you need to stop. I hate this self-deprecating crap. It’s not a good look on you.”

She took my hands in both of hers and looked me square in the eyes.

Slowly, she said, “Understand this: Andrew loves you, and he is not going to leave you for anything, ever.”

I nodded.

“No, you’re right. He’s not going to leave me.”

Which is why I’m going to have to set him free.