At the T–stage fashion show two weeks later, Lucas introduced Winter to several designers. After seeing her work, they repeatedly praised her as a rare talent.
“I’m so happy today,” Winter poured herself another glass of wine. “Thank you, Mr. Gray, for bringing me to meet so many… so many masters…”
Lucas pressed down her hand. “If you can’t drink anymore, then stop.”
But Winter insisted: “When you’re happy, you drink more! Let me pour you one too.”
Lucas had no choice but watched her slightly flushed cheeks, not stopping her as she poured him a drink.
“By the way, Lucas…” After several rounds, Winter was tipsy but still focused on a question she’d long wanted to ask: “Why are you so good to me?”
In this second chance at life, Winter had seen through Dominic’s feelings and completely lost faith in him. This disappointment had left her wary of all relationships, but that didn’t mean she had become emotionally numb.
She noticed Lucas’s kindness but couldn’t understand why he treated her so well.
Lucas had never clarified their relationship, acting as though he wanted nothing from her. Winter would have preferred if he were using her, but she couldn’t think of anything she had that would be worth exploiting.
She waited for Lucas’s answer. But Lucas only looked at her silently.
The bar wasn’t far from her home. As Lucas helped her walk back, it had stopped snowing, though a thick layer had accumulated on the ground, making a crunching sound as they walked.
At her building, Lucas realized he’d left his phone at the bar and asked Winter to wait while he retrieved it.
Winter looked at the snow on the ground, reflecting on how long she’d been in France. Before she could voice any drunken philosophical musings, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist, startling her awake.
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“Let’s talk.” It was Dominic.
The cold night air had sobered Winter considerably. She tried hard to free herself from his grip, but he pulled her into an embrace.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” The person in his arms trembled violently. “I was wrong, Winter. I regret everything. I’ve always loved you, and you love me too, right? Come back with me… France is too
cold in winter. Let’s go home, okay? I promise I’ll be good to you. We’ll get married–weren’t we
supposed to get our certificate together?”
“I’ll punish Aurelia. I won’t let you be sad anymore…”
After a long wait, Dominic received no response from Winter. But she didn’t pull away from his embrace, which gave him hope that things might still be salvageable. Then Winter finally spoke.
“Punish Aurelia?” She laughed coldly. “Wasn’t all of this with your permission? If you punish her, what about yourself?”
Dominic was speechless. Then he heard her ask, “You came to find me, but do you know what I’m doing now?”
“I know! I know you’re a designer at Santa. You’re amazing, I know…” Dominic rambled, clutching at
this lifeline.
“Very good,” Winter’s voice noticeably brightened. “Then you should know what my dream is. Let me ask you: if I go back with you, will you help me realize my design dreams?”
“I will!” Dominic looked up, his eyes flashing with hope. “I’ll give you all the best resources. You know I can introduce you to…”
Winter placed her index finger against his lips. She studied Dominic’s face carefully. Once, she had loved this face more than anything, but she wondered what had happened to its owner. The once immaculate man hadn’t even shaved his beard. With a touch of regret, she withdrew her hand.
“No, you won’t, Dominic.”
As Dominic tried to object, Winter gave him a sidelong glance that silenced him.
“Have you forgotten? Our academy doesn’t accept students who plagiarize…” she said with slight mockery. “Thanks to you, I don’t even have a degree in America. How could I possibly connect with your network?”
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Dominic could say nothing more.
“The winter in France is very cold, but staying by your side felt even colder.”
The lifeline turned into the last snowflake.
Suddenly, the weight against her vanished, and Winter stumbled backward, only to be caught in
Lucas’s arms.
Dominic was pushed aside.
Seeing the man standing beside Winter, he asked hoarsely, “You have a new lover?”
Winter found his question amusing. She took Lucas’s hand to demonstrate to Dominic.
“New lover?” She scoffed. “Don’t you have any respectful terms? This is my boyfriend. You met him last time. He’s not what you call a ‘new lover.“”
With that, she and Lucas entered the building.
Watching Winter disappear from his sight, Lucas looked down at the hand she had just held, smiled self–mockingly, then turned his palm downward, as if still holding her hand.
Back home, Winter collapsed into a chair, thinking about her encounter with Dominic. She knew her
words wouldn’t completely deter him, but she really didn’t want to see him again. She had started a new life–why couldn’t he just let her go?
Winter stood up, but a key fell from her pocket–Lucas’s keychain. She was thinking of returning it to
him at work tomorrow when she heard knocking at her door.
She opened the door, expecting Lucas coming for his key, but found Dominic instead.
How had he found her?
Winter immediately tried to close the door, but Dominic was faster, slipping inside her apartment.
“You were lying to me, right?” Dominic’s eyes were dark.
“What?”
“If he’s your boyfriend, why didn’t you invite him to stay?”
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Winter laughed in exasperation. “You think everyone is like you? Sleeping with someone just because you like them?”
“That’s not what I meant…” Dominic struggled to speak. “I just, just…”
He trailed off, unable to finish his thought.
“If you have nothing else to say, please leave. This is my home.”
After a long silence, so long that Winter thought he wouldn’t speak again:
“My mother… she passed away…” Dominic slid down against the door.
Winter momentarily lost focus.
“She… was almost better, but after hearing Aurelia talk about what happened before, she was so upset she fell down the stairs…”
“Aurelia couldn’t get into the hospital, but Chase snuck in and showed my mother videos of him and Aurelia…”
“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to use my mother to make you come back. I just…”
He looked up, his eyes filled with something Winter couldn’t decipher.
“I just wanted to talk to you.”
“Is this my punishment?”
Winter remained silent.
“I’ll go now. I won’t bother you again.”
Outside the door, Lucas stood perfectly straight. He stared at Dominic, who stared back, but ultimately said nothing.
Still concerned, Lucas had deliberately placed his key in Winter’s pocket. Sure enough, when he returned, he saw Dominic enter the building. He rushed to the door but heard Dominic say-“My mother… she passed away.”
So the hand that was about to knock fell away.
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Lucas watched until Dominic left the hallway before relaxing. Turning around, he found Winter leaning against the wall, arms crossed, watching him calmly.
“I came for my key,” Lucas said, scratching his head awkwardly.
Winter didn’t call him out on this lie, but asked, “Can you tell me the answer to my question from
earlier now?”
“What?”
“You’ve seen my work before, haven’t you? I’ve been thinking–you must have been at that
competition where I was expelled from the academy, right?”
Lucas smiled. “You finally remembered me?”
Winter neither confirmed nor denied this. “Even your interviewers noticed the issues with that
design, yet you said you liked it. Why did you believe in me?”
The man before her lowered his head, thinking for a moment. “If you don’t recognize Lucas Gray, what about Appley?”
“Appley?” Winter was instantly pulled back into her memories. As a child living at her grandma’s
house, a little boy from next door always climbed an apple tree to watch her.
Her grandma said the boy’s parents were gone, and no children wanted to play with him. He didn’t speak to adults either.
That boy was Appley.
Appley said he had no friends, and she replied, “That’s okay, I’ll be your friend.”
Appley said he didn’t know how to play the games she mentioned, and she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you.”
It wasn’t until she started elementary school and her parents took her away that she never saw him again.
But Appley kept writing to her, until she moved during high school.
“In middle school, my grandpa passed away, and I was sent to a foster home. When I tried writing to you again, those letters were intercepted and torn up. They never got sent. It wasn’t until I left for college that I realized…”
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“I thought you’d forgotten me, or didn’t want to see me anymore.”
“I searched for a long time before learning you attended Northridge University and studied design. When I saw you posting for a study partner, I left you a message…”
“Study partner?” Winter seemed to recall something. “Appy? You were Appy?”
Appy–Appley.
Back then, she had briefly found an online study partner for a competition. So it was him?
Lucas smiled. “The Apple Beyond the Tree‘–we created that design together. How could I not believe in you? But back then I had no influence; I stood up for you and got expelled by the dean. Now things are different.”
“Now things are different. I have the power to protect you now. We’ve both come a long way.”
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