Chapter <b>547 </b>


    I walk slowly towards Noah. No one needs to tell me it’s him. Even after six years, I can still tell him apart


    from millions of people.


    I literally feel like my heart is lodged in my throat. Like someone is squeezing my lungs. Stealing the very air, I am trying to push into them. I clench my hands in an effort to stop them from shaking, but it is no


    use.


    His ck hair is as I remember. What is different, though, is his build. His shoulders are broader; he has a


    more solid frame. He also seems bigger, more imposing. Then again, thest time I saw him, he was


    twenty. He is now a twenty–six–year–old man. Of course I couldn’t expect him <i>to </i>stay the same.


    I continue slowly, feeling as if my feet are made of lead. The wind brushes against me, as if whispering secrets I can’t understand. The chill vanishes just as quickly, leaving behind a heat that makes me feel


    ufortable in my own skin


    Finally, after what feels like a millennium, I reach where he is seated.


    I stand behind him. Inhaling slowly. Trying to calm myself. Trying to think of what I should say. I’d been


    so focused on finding him that I hadn’t thought about what woulde next. Now here I am, frozen and


    mute, standing behind him like some sort of serial killer creep.


    I was just about to call his name when his deep voice broke the silence.


    “What are you doing here, Sierra?”


    I stand rooted, with my mouth slightly open. How did he know it was me? I shake my head at the stupid


    question. He hates me, so of course he would know it was me. Know thy enemy, type of thing, right?


    “I could ask you the same thing,” I say, stepping from behind him.


    That’s when I see them–bottles scattered at his feet. But it isn’t the bottles that have me worried. It’s the


    rolled–up papers.


    He doesn’t look at me. Just keeps staring out at the city below. No wonder they loved this ce. The view is breathtaking


    “I came here to remember,” he murmurs. “I’ve been forgettingtely. Her smell, her voice, herugh, her smile. I just wanted to remember her”


    <b>“</b>Noah”


    I can’t help the tremble in my voice, just like I can’t ignore the raw pain in his voice. He is hurting and missing her with every fiber of his being.


    I drop to my knees beside him and rest a hand on his shoulder, offering what littlefort I can. His body


    trembles, as if the pain and grief inside him are fighting for release. Fighting to be let out, while he does everything he can to keep them buried.


    I look at him–really look at him for the first time in six years. He isn’t anywhere near the man he was on his wedding day. His eyes are hollow. Empty. It’s like the Noah I knew died the day she died.


    Today is Chloe’s death anniversary.


    She passed away two years ago from stage four brain cancer. No one knew she was sick. Not even Chloe


    herself. By the time she was diagnosed, it was already toote. There was nothing they could have done


    to save her.


    They had given her a maximum of one year to live, but Chloe died four months after the cancer was


    diagnosed.


    “I miss her so much,” he whispers, voice hoarse. “Why did it have to be her? Why did she have to die? How


    are the twins supposed to survive without her? How am I supposed to live without her?”


    The questions tumble from him, one after another. I can’t answer them. I have no answers. Just silence and sympathy.


    I questioned what I was about to do, but it was killing me witnessing his pain. It was killing me seeing


    him hurting this way. I hesitate for a second–then move closer and wrap an arm around his shoulders, pulling him to me.


    To my surprise, he doesn’t resist. He doesn’t fight me. He doesn’t insult me or push me away. He simply clings to me, holding on to me like I am a lifeline, like his life depends on it. His grip hurt a little, but I let him. I let him, even though I knew I probably shouldn’t.


    “Make it stop, Sierra. Please make the pain go away.”


    “I wish I could, Noah.”


    His shoulders shake silently. He doesn’t make a sound, but I know he is crying–for Chloe. For the love he lost. For everything that would never be.


    “I want her toe back,” his voice breaks. “I want all this to be nothing but a terrible dream. I miss her so much and It’s getting harder to live each day that I am here without her.”


    His words scare me because they sound like the words of someone who has given up all hope. Maybe I should have a talk with Aunt Ava and see whether she can get him to see a therapist.


    Since there is nothing else I could do for now, I hold him tighter, wishing I could absorb even a fraction of his pain. No matter what happened between us in the past. No matter how terrible he was to me, no one deserved this kind of grief. No one should go through the pain of losing a loved one.


    Chapter <b>548 </b>