When Edith noticed the tension crackling between Patrick and me, she pushed open the car door and forced a smile. "Patrick, maybe you should pay more attention to how she feels. I can always hold another press conference and come clean about my mistakes to the public."
She paused, her voice going thin. "I've already been through one failed relationship. I don't want you to end up the same way because of me."
Watching her spiral into self-deprecation, a layer of frost settled over Patrick's face. But the raw ache in his eyes betrayed exactly how he really felt.
All those tangled emotions finally condensed into a single, desperate question.
"Do you really have to leave me?"
Edith glanced at me nervously, gauging my reaction, and then, under Patrick's insistence, reluctantly climbed back into the passenger seat.
Patrick turned to me. His voice was laced with ice.
"Don't make me regret choosing you."
I stared at him in disbelief. This was who he really was.
It felt like someone had torn a gash straight through my chest, and the cold wind was howling right through it.
Then came his final verdict: the public announcement of our marriage would be postponed. A punishment.