Chapter 265

Hayden let me turn his face any way I wanted and kept going, "Do you know what you said back then?"

"I don't know, and you're totally making this up," I protested, refusing to believe I'd been that shameless as a kid.

"You said it was like stamping a seal on me. That after you kissed me, I was yours. And when you grew up, you'd marry me. You even made me promise not to marry anyone else." He paused for dramatic effect, then suddenly leaned down, bringing his face closer to mine.

"Kiki, I've followed your orders. I'm in my thirties now, and I've never been in a relationship. Never liked another girl, never even held another girl's hand. I've waited for you all this time, so you've got to take responsibility for me," he said, sounding so earnest and pitiful that I felt guilty just hearing him.

I always thought Jace was my childhood friend, but now I realized I was wrong.

Hayden was my real childhood sweetheart—the one who, despite the little time we'd had together, managed to leave