Chapter 3: Past Memories After Lucas left, my best friend Olivia came rushing into the hospital room, her designer heels clicking rapidly against the tile floor. "Oh my God, Autumn!" she exclaimed, setting a bouquet of flowers on the side table before grabbing my uninjured hand. "I came as soon as I heard. Are you okay?" I gave her a tired smile. "Just a few stitches. I'll be fine." Olivia tucked a strand of her copper hair behind her ear, studying me with concern. "The Bailey Estate is in complete chaos right now. The old man is beside himself-something about that chandelier being in the family for generations." She paused, leaning closer. "But when Lucas carried you out just now, he was frantic with worry. I've never seen him look so panicked." I snorted softly. "Seriously," she insisted. "So, is this a case of unrequited love finally bearing fruit, or love after marriage?" I stared at her blankly. "I'm genuinely happy for you," Olivia continued. "When you first got married, I was sweating bullets on your behalf. But now, I think it's only a matter of time before you conquer this untouchable flower on the high peak." Sunlight streamed in through the window, warming my face. I suddenly remembered that half an hour before the accident, I had been in the guest bedroom of the Bailey mansion, unwrapping birthday gifts. Only at the very end did I come across Lucas's present. It was a necklace-platinum and diamonds from Cartier. I'd put it on immediately, heart fluttering at the thoughtfulness of the gift. But just moments ago, as Lucas carried me past Phoebe Graham, I'd noticed a bracelet from the same Cartier collection on her wrist. The gift that had thrilled me beyond measure turned out to be something he picked up casually while buying a bracelet for someone else. "I've already agreed," I said suddenly, my voice flat. "In two years, I'll divorce him." Olivia shot up from her seat, eyes wide with shock. "What? Why? Are you out of your mind?" She lowered her voice to a fierce whisper. "Is he keeping a mistress on the side?" I let out a small laugh. "It's not quite that." Lucas Bailey wasn't that kind of person. On the contrary, he protected Phoebe Graham with great care. His love was restrained, hidden, as if he feared that malicious people might cause her trouble or that she might be tarnished by any unsavory reputation. Apart from me, only a few of his closest friends knew that he had fallen for a girl who didn't belong to our social circle. "No, it's not that," I said. "As for the reason... I can't tell you just yet. Regardless, it's already decided. Once I've made a promise, I'll see it through." Living a lifetime with a man who doesn't love me, versus the tangible benefits he might bring to me and the Shepherd empire. Anyone with sense would know which to choose. Olivia was stunned for a moment and didn't press further. In the end, she only said, "But you've liked him for so many years." I sighed. So what? I met Lucas Bailey when I was sixteen. We were assigned as lab partners in AP Chemistry for half a year. Westlake Prep was known for its rigorous academics and elite student body-children of politicians, business moguls, and old money families. I was the new girl, and rumors about my background had started almost immediately. "Her mother was the nanny," I'd overheard one girl whisper. "Seduced Mr. Shepherd while his wife was pregnant with their first legitimate child." "I heard she was a cocktail waitress," another added. "Climbed her way up from the gutter." The truth was more complicated. My mother had been from a good family once, childhood sweethearts with my father. When they were in love, her family lost everything in a financial scandal. To avoid holding him back, she left while pregnant with me, refusing his money or help. My father married someone else, had two more children, while my mother raised me alone in a small apartment across the country. When I was sixteen, my father learned that my mother was ill. He traveled to find us, saying his wife had passed away a couple of years earlier and that he wanted to bring us home. My mother, already suffering from late-stage cancer, agreed. Lucas never believed the rumors. When I fell ill with pneumonia during finals week, he carried me to the infirmary, stayed with me the entire morning, and missed an important basketball game against our school's biggest rival. When others whispered that I was the illegitimate daughter of a gold-digger, he confronted them directly. "Say that again," he'd challenged a senior boy twice his size, "and you'll be drinking through a straw for the rest of the semester." In my senior year, my mother passed away. I cried my heart out in the stairwell, utterly devastated. Only Lucas, passing by, noticed. He didn't say anything-just handed me a handful of candies from his pocket and sat with me until I stopped crying. I kept those candies for years, only to watch them spoil over time. Yet, at twenty-three, when we were on the verge of getting engaged, sitting face to face at the same table in an exclusive restaurant chosen by our fathers, he looked at me with unfamiliar eyes and said only, "Have we met before?" He had forgotten me. At that moment, I was rendered speechless. I hadn't changed much. I was still quiet, with long dark hair and wearing a blue dress, not one for smiles. The only difference, perhaps, was the light makeup on a face that once went bare. But forgotten is forgotten. The things I clung to as lifelines were merely casual acts on his part. He was just a good person, not good to me specifically. So I only smiled, pretending it didn't matter. "Have you forgotten? Westlake Prep, AP Chemistry. I'm Autumn Shepherd." Lucas looked up, his furrowed brows relaxing. He sighed. "Oh, it's you." In the hospital room, Olivia squeezed my hand, pulling me back to the present. "Autumn, are you sure about this? You can still back out." I shook my head. "Some things just aren't meant to be, Liv. And I'm not going to spend my life chasing after a man who loves someone else." Even if that man was Lucas Bailey, the boy who had once been my whole world.