Alec’s

I walk inside the shop, taking in everything inside it. Nothing has changed in the past three years since I've been away. The walls are still the same warm yellow color they were, although it seems a fresh coat has been added. The chairs and the tables are still the same.

I walk further in. I've come here to forget my worries for the time being, just like I did since I was about twelve years old. The only difference this time is that I have my wolf and I can actually smell the different flavors of ice cream.

"Sadie, is that you?" a low-pitched, feeble, and scratchy voice asks, making me lift my head.

I smile, seeing a familiar old face. "Hi, Mrs. Walter."Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

She wobbles over to me before pulling me into her arms in a warm hug. I wrap my hands around her, hugging her back, feeling myself relaxing as her warmth surrounds me.

"Where have you been, dear? You disappeared without a word or a trace. I've been so worried about you." The concern in her voice holds my heart in a tight grip.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you. I got a scholarship to study abroad. I didn't expect it, and it was so sudden that I didn't have time to come and say goodbye. I didn't have your contacts, so I couldn't even call you and let you know I was fine." The lie spills out of me so easily that it shocks.

I was never one to lie. Mostly because I could never keep a straight face. Over the years, I have learned to. I needed to know how to if I wanted to survive. We weren't locked up in our pack, and once in a while when we did go out, one or two people would recognize me. I had to learn to lie and be really convincing, because if I couldn't, it meant that I had to kill the person that recognized me. Unlike the first hybrid that I killed, the others were innocent. I couldn't kill them because they recognized me, and I couldn't let word get back to Alec that someone had seen me.

"I didn't know you planned to go to college," Mrs. Walter mutters, her brows drawn in confusion. "If I remember correctly, you told me you were waiting for that boy you had a crush on to reciprocate your love so you could get married and settle down."

I groan. This is the third person to mention Alec today. Why is it always like that? The more you try to avoid someone, the more their names keep popping up everywhere.

"I know, but I gave up when he got himself a girlfriend," I answer truthfully.

"That's so sad; you were madly in love with him. How could he not see how pure your love was? Men are such blind fools. My husband was the same too."

She told me about her husband on

one of my visits here. They had an arranged marriage, and at first Mr. Walter treated her horribly because she wasn't the woman he wanted to marry Even though he hated her guts, Mrs. Walter couldn't help but faffin love with him. Well, that is until he hired the love of his life as his secretary and started spending more time at the office.

He rarely came home, and when he did, he was cold to her. It went on like that for months, and the other woman started taunting her and causing havoc in her marriage. Mr. Walter always took the woman's side instead of his wife's. His affection and care for the other woman broke her. Shattered her in ways she never thought she'd be whole again.

Back then, times were different, and divorce was unheard of. Women had to stay in their marriages despite the despicable way their husbands treated them.

Mrs. Walter had had enough, though. She packed up her things and went back to her parents' house. She was their only daughter, and they would do anything for her, including agreeing to let their daughter get a divorce even though it would tarnish both hers and the family's reputation.

She told me that at first it was all

about his image; that's why he tried to fight the divorce... Later on, he realized that he actually loved her. was a long way to recovery for the couple, and it took two years of wooing and apologizing before she agreed to come back home. Since then, they were happy, and Mr. Walter showed his remorse day in and day out, until he died.