26. THEIR FIRST KISS

PRESENT-DAY

LONDON

The entire ride to his house was silent. His driver doesn't dare to speak a word since Jayden always preferred that way. But today, the silence is so loud; it is screaming inside his head, his heart is thumping wildly. He looked at the moon lamp in his bedroom. He thought of the day he received it. It was his twenty-second birthday; the same day as today six years before. Only, back then, Ayla had all her eyes on him and now she is looking at Blake's pictures reminiscing their memories. Where is he then? Did she forget him like that as if he's a small tide that once wet her feet? Is that all? Did he mean nothing to her?

He touched the lamp resisting the urge to throw it to the wall and watch it break into pieces. After all these years, he kept it with him. It wasn't the first time he wanted to throw it away. But every time he got the idea, something inside him stopped that. He is afraid if he breaks it he would break all the love he buried inside for her.