Shadows of Us

Outside the hospital, Roy stared at his phone in disbelief. He could not believe that Willow hung up on him.

Willow never terminated his call. She would always make sure to pick up right away. As such, Roy dialed her number again.

The call connected moments later, but it was quiet on the other end of the line. Roy, not one to cave in, said nothing. A tense silence lingered in the air, broken only by their breathing.

Roy felt bad as it just occurred to him that Willow’s foot was bleeding when he left. He was going to get her patched up. However, Willow was stubborn, as always. Despite her kind heart, she was headstrong. No one knew her better than Roy.

At the time, her uncompromising stance had rubbed him the wrong way. Hence, he said nothing and took Sierra away.

“Your foot–”

“It’s over between us, Roy.”

They talked over each other.

Roy paused for a minute before sneering. “What did you say, Willow?”

Willow remained indifferent. “If there’s anything between us, to begin with, that is. Else, you can say that you left me.”

Roy smirked. “Have it your way, Willow.”

After that, Willow ended the call, and Sierra came out of the assessment room to find Roy laughing away while staring at his phone.

She drew close with a smile. “Roy, what’s so funny–”

Roy hurled his phone, smashing it to the ground with a loud bang. Sierra clammed up in fright.

Roy’s chauffeur burst in. “Mr. Chester, I got a call from Hailey, saying that something isn’t right with Ms. Croyton. She left with a suitcase in the middle of the night…”

He trailed off when he saw the shattered phone on the floor.

With a grin, Roy uttered, “She better not come back.”

In less than a week, the city buzzed with the news that Roy had moved on to a younger model and finally ditched Willow after three years for a nineteen-year-old Sierra.

Unlike with Willow, Roy gave Sierra the world. Someone commented that Sierra’s long hair looked like Willow’s from behind, and Roy responded by kicking him into the pool. Since then, no one spoke of Willow in front of Roy anymore.

Still, everybody noticed that anything could set Roy off lately. Due to his unwarranted outbursts, his friends stopped the jokes.

One night, Roy lounged in the club after a business meeting, his eyes heavy with drink. It did not take Sierra long to join him, and Roy caught a whiff of her perfume. Then, at the faint sound of a click, his eyes snapped open.

With her back facing him, Sierra was busy texting away. From where he was sitting, Roy picked up that it was a photo of him lying down.

“Did you take a picture of me?” he murmured.

Sierra shuddered and dropped her phone on the sofa.

Roy’s eyes fell upon the phone screen, where a photo captured him reclining, his hand resting on the sofa, while Sierra leaned in, their poses suggesting an intimate embrace. Willow’s profile picture on the dialog box caught his eye right away.

Sierra swiftly grabbed her phone and put it behind her back.

“Roy, I-I…” Caught in the act, Sierra stammered for words.

Roy fell silent for a moment. “Come here.”

Before Sierra knew it, Roy pulled her into his arms and planted a kiss on her cheek. While that was happening, he held Sierra’s phone to take a picture of them and tapped to send the photo.