Chapter 9 Knowing he was gone, I was finally relieved. His problem was not my concern. I didn't care about the Kennedys' fate. A month later, I was celebrating a successful exhibition with Jedediah when my phone buzzed with Craig's long message. He admitted his wrongs, acknowledged my suffering, and explained his actions stemmed from fear of losing me. Looking back, he called them laughable. At the end of it, he pleaded for my forgiveness. [I won't bother you again. I just hope you're happy and don't hate me.] I read calmly, typing: [Our bond is dead. The past is water under the bridge.] Sending it, I exhaled deeply. I'd never forgive him. His best apology was staying out of my life. Craig read my reply, collapsing into his chair. His phone slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground. The pain in his heart wasn't an illness. It was his penance. After a long time, he came to his senses and opened the drawer stuffed with divorce agreements. The top one, my final signature taped haphazardly, stared back. His fingers traced it, and his tears fell. Those papers, born of his insecurity, witnessed how he'd driven me away. All he had was the memory of my despair. "If I could redo it," he whispered, "I'd never hurt you like that." But there were no second chances. I had erased any traces of him from my world. Two years later, my paintings were prized, my story of rising from hardship earning me fame as a genius. My past with Craig resurfaced, but now people all sympathized with me. Some shared updates about Craig. Barely 30, he had white hair, working relentlessly to save the Kennedy Group. He didn't get remarried or have any women around him. He lived alone in that cold mansion, some saying he wept at night. Perhaps he'd atone with the rest of his life, but it meant nothing to me. Our love and pain had faded with time, leaving only the quiet of separate lives, untouched and undisturbed. 1/2 Chapter 9 +25 Bonus I gazed at the starry sky, a relieved smile spreading. From now on, my life would be free, boundless, radiant, just like those stars.