7 Years Of Love Chapter 01
I’d been waiting for Dylan Wheeler at the date-night restaurant for four hours. It was New Year’s Eve.
Then, the photo popped up on my feed—my adopted sister, Amalia Nicolson, smiling sweetly under a fireworks display.
The caption read, “Our fifth fireworks show together. The one who truly loves you never cares about where you come from or where you stand in the world.”
The comments section was flooded with people wishing them a lifetime of happiness.
The hand reaching out to pat her head in the picture belonged to Dylan. Three hours ago, he told me he was on his way.
Calmly, I liked the post.
With bright fireworks exploding outside the window, I finished the entire set menu for two by myself.
I forced down the last piece of steak; it tasted like nothing.
I was so stuffed that my eyes started to water.
It turned out that during the seven years I was missing, he had fallen in love with my replacement.
Just as I put my fork down, my mom called.
“Lori, don’t get the wrong idea. Mia is just used to this routine. We thought you weren’t coming back, so we arranged for them to get engaged. But since Dylan is marrying you now, don’t hold this against Mia. We owe her, after all.”
A wave of bitterness washed over me.
The year I went missing, Dylan and I were the campus’s golden couple—top students, inseparable wherever we went.
My parents had arranged our engagement back then, too, planning for us to marry right after graduation from college.
Everything changed a month after the SATs, when Dylan took me to an abandoned factory to watch fireworks.
Halfway through the show, he got a call from Amalia. She claimed she had a personal emergency and couldn’t handle having anyone else around.
So, he left me there. Alone in the middle of nowhere.
While I waited for a driver, I was drugged and sold to traffickers.
During that first year I was gone, my family tried everything to find me. They cried constantly.
But Dylan never admitted the truth about that day.
Amalia said she wanted to atone, so Dylan arranged for my parents to adopt her.
My parents missed me so much that they started looking at her and seeing me.
They poured all the parental love they couldn’t give me into her.
They even changed her last name.
Over time, as she stayed by their side, they forgot about me.
They forgot I was the one engaged to Dylan.
They forgot the seven years we spent apart.
Who was going to repay me for everything I’d lost?
I felt weak, completely helpless.
“Understood.”
I heard her sigh in relief. She wanted to say more, but I hung up.
A little while later, Dylan arrived. He looked like he’d rushed the whole way.
Amalia followed behind him, her eyes red.
She said, “I’m sorry, Lori. I shouldn’t have been so selfish and left you waiting here alone for four hours.”
Dylan looked at her with pure pity—the exact way he used to look at me.
But when he turned to me, he was frowning.
“Alright, Lori, I’m here now, so stop looking so stern. You’re scaring her.
“Are you done eating? I’ll drive you both back.”
He started pushing my wheelchair.
At the car, he instinctively opened the passenger door for Amalia and fastened her seatbelt.
When he finished settling her in, he turned around and saw I had already pulled myself into the back seat.
“Please put my wheelchair in the trunk.”
He looked guilty for a split second.
“Sorry. I’m just used to it.”
I shook my head.
“Let’s go.”
On the way, Amalia activated the car’s smart assistant. It responded with a recording of her own voice.
“Here I am! Dyl, where are you taking me for fun today?”
A sharp, persistent pain radiated through my chest.
In our senior year at high school, Dylan started riding motorcycles to blow off steam from studying.
As soon as he got his license, he took me for a ride.
We went riding whether we failed exams or aced them.
We explored almost every street and alley in the city.
He promised that once he got his driver’s license, he’d take me even further away.
I never got to see him keep that promise.
Instead, I was watching him play happy family with someone else, feeling like an intruder in their relationship.
Watching the silent understanding in their eyes, I suddenly felt like none of this mattered anymore.
I looked calmly at the stranger Dylan had become in the rearview mirror and spoke slowly.
“Dylan, let’s cancel the wedding.”
The brakes screeched.
With a heavy thud, the car skidded, and the tires slammed into the curb.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing is wrong with me, I—”
Before I could finish, he leaned over to check on Amalia in the passenger seat.
“What happened? Let me see!”
Amalia said, “I bumped my head. It’s fine, I’m okay.
“I’m sorry, Lori. I want Dyl to marry you. I owe you that much. After the wedding, I’ll keep my distance.”
Her eyes were red, and she looked pathetic.
Dylan looked sick with worry.
He turned back and glared at me with frustration.
“She already blames herself. Why bring this up in front of her?
“The past is my fault, and I said I’d take responsibility for you. Please, just stop making a scene.”
He sighed and called the insurance company.
“I’m taking her to the hospital,” he told me. “You stay here and handle the accident report.”
The heavy slam of the car door sent a dull ache through my chest.
He’d never blamed me.
He’d never left me alone to deal with difficult situations.
Even when he got into fights, skipped class, or got disciplined for my sake, he never treated me like this.
I cried silently.
My chest hurt, and it was hard to breathe.
After the adjuster assessed the damage and the car was towed, the manager was kind enough to drive me to the hospital.
As I reached the door, I heard low sobbing coming from inside.
“Honey, since Lori wants to, maybe we should… just cancel the wedding. You’ve seen how Mia and Dylan feel about each other.
“We already failed one daughter; we can’t fail the other.
“Besides, you know what has happened to Lori… She can’t have children. The Wheeler family might not say it, but they care.”
My father sighed, but before he could speak, Dylan interrupted him sharply.
“Mrs. Nicolson! I said I would marry Lori. Nothing is going to change that.”
Mom sighed.
“Why are you being so stubborn? Are you going to throw away your happiness just out of a sense of responsibility? It wasn’t your fault she went missing. If she hadn’t run off and caught someone’s attention, none of this would have happened.”
I dug my fingernails into my palms.
So that was what Dylan had told them.
I gave a bitter laugh and pushed my wheelchair into the room.
Seeing their panicked, evasive expressions, I smiled.
“Dylan, did you really never tell my parents that you left me at that factory because Amalia called to confess her love to you?”
