"No!" Jack roared, shoving Demi away with all his strength. She staggered back, nearly losing her balance.

Jack ran out after Sarah. She was turning the corner of the building when he caught up with her.

"Sarah, please," he said as she bounded away. "It’s not what you think."

She spun around just before they reached the front of the lounge, her eyes blazing. "The real question, Jack, is what you think of me. You must see me as some 'senseless simpleton from a small town.' That’s why you think you can lie about cutting all ties, pretending you want to 'start fresh.' You’ve deceived all of us here, especially me, with your fake humility and your so-called learning, when all you probably wanted was a place to mock while you dreamed up ideas for your next erotic novel." She let out a bitter laugh. "And who does he choose as his muse for those obscene fantasies? Me, of course! The woman who takes him in and buys his nonsense about being tormented and repressed. That’s the fool you think I am, Jack. And you know what? I am. So go back to your real life with your sexy manager-lover! Another newsflash!"

She turned around and started to walk away again. Jack caught up, recovering from the shock of her words. "Sarah, I swear that everything I ever said to you is the truth. I’m not lying to you. She found me here from a post of me at the dance the other night. Please, believe me."

Sarah spoke without turning around or slowing down. "I believe you, Jack. I believe that you use your escapades with women to become the best seller you are. I would just have been glad if you had told me that’s what I was too before you fucked me!" Her voice had risen, and Jack was grateful the music inside was loud enough to shield them.

His voice caught in his throat as he desperately tried to explain, "Sarah, that's not who you are. I can't fully describe what you mean to me because I've never felt this way with anyone else before, but trust me, that's not who you are."

Sarah stopped walking and stared straight ahead. Jack moved in front of her and took her hand, relieved when she let him. He could see the suspicion on her face.

"I am saying that I have fallen in love with you, Sarah," he confessed, the desperation clear in his tone. "Isn't it obvious? I came here and found you, and my purpose in life is now clear. You can't be like those other girls. Your place in my heart belongs to you alone. I told Demi this,"

She gazed at him for a moment, trying to process his words before her expression turned to anger. It was a deep anger that made him fear her.

"This is outrageous! Now you're trying to come up with another lie to cover up what I saw with Demi? You must think I'm a desperate woman, huh? That I want your fame and fortune that you're still so attached to. So now that you claim to love me, I'm supposed to just fall into your arms and live happily ever after?" She looked him up and down. "Get that idea out of your head! Who do you think you are?"

"A man who loves you," he replied calmly, his eyes reflecting the sincerity of his words.

She stared at him as lightning lit up the sky above them, followed by a roll of thunder. Gradually, the anger dissipated from her face.

"Are you serious?!" she asked, sounding more like she had made a discovery than asking a question.

He nodded, taking her other hand and placing it over his chest. "This is how hard my heart beats for you, Sarah Drago. It will always beat for you. I won’t leave you. I won’t leave here. You are my life."

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As if to bless his words, the sky began to drizzle softly.

Sarah's face softened briefly, a flicker of joy in her eyes, but then her expression hardened, her jaw tightening as she pulled her hands away.

Her voice was steady and determined as she spoke. "Stay away from me!" Jack looked at her with confusion in his eyes. "Call Demi, get in your car, and never come back!"

"I will not let you control my future just because you are famous and we had a fling. You don't own me, my experiences, or my love!" She pulled her hand away from his grip, but he blocked her path.

"I never wanted to own you. I didn't sleep with you to possess you or for any other selfish reasons..." Jack struggled to find the right words. "Am I missing something? I thought there was a connection, something real, between us."

"You're nothing but a player, Jack!" she yelled as the rain began to soak them both. Jack shivered, not from the rain but from her words. "I know your reputation with women. You don't get attached to them and that's fine by me. Your attraction towards me was enough because I was also attracted to you. Sex and 'connection' as you call it...that's all there ever should be, and I'm okay with that. That's why I'm fine with Demi taking you and leaving this place. But now you're talking about having me in your life for good or something? All I saw was a disconnected playboy, and that's all I ever needed from you."

She tried to move away again, but Jack restrained her with a hand to her arm. She yanked it away but stayed put.

"What are you saying, Sarah? You don’t want me like I want you? Because of the darkness in my soul, right?" Jack's heart started to break, together with his voice. "Look me in the eyes and tell me! You don’t want me?"

As he looked into her eyes, he saw a deep red—not of anger, but of sorrow.

"I don’t want anyone, Jack." She glanced away, her voice trembling. "I can't let anyone get that close. I'm just not built that way."

"That's not true!" Jack shot back, his voice rising in disbelief. "That's not what you've always told me. You taught me to be honest, to be real and expressive. You showed me what love means, damn it! All those things I never understood from my own experiences, I learned from you. You welcomed me into your family, your community. You talk about your parents' love every day—it's part of who you are. You can't deny that part of yourself."

"And yet look where it got them!" she yelled, her voice startling him. "Their love was so profound that even death couldn't separate them.

"The cancer didn't just kill my mother slowly; it tore my father apart too. He was a shadow of himself, Jack! Andrew and I were orphans long before they were gone. She lost the battle with cancer, and he died right after, leaving us alone. A family shattered by a love that bound them too tightly. Our lives were too entwined; my parents' especially. My father's death terrified me, made me fear this mystery called 'love.' I don't want it. I don't need it! I can't bear the thought of life stopping for someone else, or for myself, because of a bond. Never again! Never, Jack!"

Jack stood dumbfounded, struggling to grasp the weight of her words. He could see her pain, but she had to see reason.

"Sarah, I can’t help my love for you," he said, thinking that she didn’t understand him yet. "Don’t you get it? You have captivated my soul."

She laughed in the rain and wiped water off her face with a hand.

"You don’t get it. Your arrogance stops you. It’s not all about you Jack!" she said and moved around him before he could gather himself. "Goodbye forever… Please, Jack."

Jack stood facing away from where she had headed. He couldn’t move from the spot as he trembled. Seconds later, he heard a car pull up on the road, and the door opened and shut.

She had gone away... The one he loved was gone.

Demi appeared from around the building, carrying a large umbrella. She walked decidedly toward him. She stopped before his drenched form and hesitated a second before speaking.

"Time to go home, Jack!"