Chapter 4 Six Years Later

Aviah's POV

Winter had returned to Bloomdale.

I sat in my living room wrapped in a blanket, holding a mug of hot coffee while watching a video on YouTube. The title caught my eye: #What would you tell your six-years-ago self?

In the video, I recognized two familiar faces—my ex-fiancé August and my cousin Scarlett, the woman he had cheated with the night before our wedding.

They held hands as August looked lovingly into the camera and said, "I wish the August from six years ago had confessed his feelings to Scarlett sooner."

Beside him, Scarlett responded with equal tenderness, "Me too."

The comments section overflowed with well-wishes. I sighed deeply as I stared at the screen.

The next video in the autoplay queue followed a similar theme but in a different setting. Not in Lakeview, but in a small town—Bloomdale, where I now lived.

Suddenly, there I was on screen. In the video, I was asked the same question.

My recorded self answered. "If I could really go back in time, I would tell Aviah from six years ago not to marry August."

As I watched this video from a few weeks ago, tears gathered at the corners of my eyes.

While I was lost in my thoughts, two children came running and threw themselves into my arms. They were my twins, born from that one night with a stranger six years ago.

When I discovered I was pregnant, I was at my weakest, with no emotional reserves left to think about termination.

But more than that, I had desperately wanted family and companionship. Through these children, I constantly reminded myself never to trust anyone easily again. That thought gave me the strength to carry and deliver these twins.

Of course, after hearing what Scarlett had said that day, I lived in constant fear, worried I might have contracted an STD, worried it might affect my babies. The only good news amidst all the devastation was that my tests came back negative.

For my children's education, I had finally made the difficult decision to return to Lakeview.

"Aviah, are we leaving for Lakeview today?" Edna McCarthy asked as she loaded our packed belongings into the car.

Edna had been the Lynch family's housekeeper. Despite my family's downfall, she remained loyal. When I was at my lowest point, she had been there, helping me raise the twins for the past six years without complaint.

In my heart, Edna had become family. When I stood over Alexander's body, lost and broken, it was Edna who helped me through that most agonizing time. She stopped me when I tried to take my own life, and brought me away from Lakeview.

Later, I discovered that Alexander's company had gone bankrupt. I had always suspected that perhaps he had hoped this marriage alliance would help him overcome his financial crisis with Ralph's assistance.

But because of me, the wedding became a laughingstock for everyone. Was it these blows that made Alexander unable to bear it, choosing suicide instead? I would never know for certain; it was all just my speculation.

Edna had brought me to her hometown—Bloomdale—to protect me. Now that the children were older, for the sake of giving them the best education possible, and to face something I had buried in my heart for six years, I decided to return to Lakeview.

Six years ago, August and I had already obtained our marriage license before the wedding ceremony. The wedding was merely a formality. I never imagined things would unfold the way they did.

After what happened at the wedding, I became a social pariah, looked down upon by everyone. Eventually, unable to bear the humiliation, I chose to follow Edna back to Bloomdale.

I also harbored some desire for revenge, deliberately not initiating divorce proceedings with August, making it difficult for him to marry Scarlett. I wanted to spite him, to make his life difficult, even if it hurt me too!

But after my children were born, I no longer felt that way.

This return to Lakeview had one essential purpose—to divorce him. I didn't want the past to constrain me anymore. I couldn't continue hurting myself as before; I had children now and needed to think of them. I needed to cut ties with the past and put a period to that chapter of my life.

I stood up, asking the twins to help Edna with the luggage while I returned to my bedroom to compose myself. With practiced calm, I dialed August's number.

The call connected quickly, but a familiar female voice answered, "Who is this?"

I paused, surprised that Scarlett had picked up. But I quickly recovered and said, "I'd like to speak to August. Where is he?"

I heard Scarlett's contemptuous laugh. "He's in the shower. What do you want? You can tell me instead."

Her voice carried the same old brazen confidence, with an undertone of territorial pride and showing off.

Over these years, this wasn't my first contact with August. His calls had ranged from hypocritical greetings to demands that I meet him to finalize our divorce.

Each time, I would answer with calm detachment, which gradually led to threats from him. I would simply laugh.

Eventually, he figured out how to hurt me—he would remind me of our past together, making me nostalgic, only to then tell me it had all been lies.

Every time I heard this, my heart ached, but I still fought to control myself. I knew that the more he tried to hurt me, the more I couldn't give him what he wanted.

Pain? We could hurt each other; neither of us would be at peace.

If this had happened at the beginning, I would have screamed and told Scarlett to get lost when I heard her voice. But not anymore. When I decided to let go, none of it mattered anymore.

"Then tell August I agree to the divorce," I said calmly.

Behind these words lay six years of torment—six years I had spent punishing them and myself! Six years that had finally allowed me to let go of the past completely.

Six years ago, grief and regret had filled my heart. I still had lingering feelings for him then. To completely rid myself of those emotions, I had chosen this path.

The truth was, I wasn't holding onto the August from six years ago, but the August in my memories—the boy who had once been devoted to me, whose eyes had been filled with only me.

It took six years, but I had killed both my former self and the August who lived in my memories.

On the other end of the line, I could sense Scarlett's momentary confusion. With disbelief in her voice, she asked, "You agree?"