PART 2
It was true that Andrew didn’t know how to react. Since Diana had disappeared, he had spent over five years searching for her; twice using his family’s connections, despite his disdain for them. Yet, he wanted so much to find her that, in the end, he was used by his relatives. With the promise of finding her if he returned to his parents to take his rightful place, he spent a year under their control, hoping to see her again. But the truth was, they were not looking for her. Diana was just bait to get Andrew back. Three more years passed, during which he tried to locate her by his own means and connections, with no results.
And the plain truth was, when he began dating Emily, the few times he was around Diana, he felt something familiar. A feeling he overlooked because he didn’t want to face the disappointment if it turned out not to be her—the real one. But in the end… she had always been by his side, just as the talisman had promised.
“Really?” she asked, doubtful.
“Really.”
“I’m glad.” Diana smiled.
An expression that lightly tugged at Andrew’s heart. “Is it possible that after so many years, these forgotten feelings could resurface?” Andrew thought, turning his face away to look out the window. “It’s impossible,” he assured himself, or at least that’s what he desperately wanted to believe.
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The trip had been long, but it was worth it when the girls entered the hotel suite where they would be staying. Diana, who was leaning over the balcony, gazed at the vast beach with its crystal-clear waters and the sky that was as blue as a magazine cover. She couldn’t help but breathe in the salty sea air carried by the gentle breeze, while her friends prepared for a day of sand and sea.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/sgS37z1S/1.jpg]
When Diana wanted to return to her friends, she started to feel a sharp pain in her head and had to hold onto the balcony railing to keep from falling.
“Ready for a day at the beach?” Emily asked, leaning out of the balcony.
“You go on ahead,” Diana said, turning toward them and struggling to hide her pain. “I’ll join you later.”
“Are you okay?” Emily asked, noticing the beads of sweat on Diana’s forehead. “You don’t look too good.”
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“Don’t worry, it’s just a headache. I’m sure it will pass,” Diana assured her.
“Alright,” Anna said, taking Emily by the arm and dragging her out of the room. “We’ll see you there.”
As Emily walked down the hotel hallway, she couldn’t shake the image of her friend from her mind. She felt uneasy about leaving her alone like that. Then she heard a voice that pulled her from her thoughts.
“And Diana?” Andrew asked.
“She stayed in the room,” Anna answered, still holding onto Emily’s arm. “She said she’d come later.”
“She didn’t look very good,” Emily added.
“I’ll go check on her,” Andrew said, starting to walk away. Emily grabbed him by the arm.
“Here,” Emily said, handing him the room key card. “Knock before you enter. I’d rather not have you catch my best friend as God made her.”
The term “best friend” was one that had lost its charm for Anna ever since Diana came into their lives. Every time her dear friend used it to refer to Diana, who she felt had taken Emily away from her, it made her stomach turn.
“What’s going on with those two lately?” Anna asked, watching Andrew walk away with the card, her curiosity piqued.
“Nothing that concerns us,” Emily replied in a muffled tone.
Emily had two limits: one was Andrew, the boundary she crossed when he broke her heart, and the other was Diana. These two crucial margins of her life had come together, though not in the way she had hoped. Despite this, Emily made the decision that having been a jerk once was enough and, this time, she wouldn’t interfere. On the contrary, if she could help them in any way, she would be the first to volunteer. A painful but mature choice she would carry as punishment for her past actions.
Andrew knocked on the door of the suite twice with no response. After trying a third time and getting the same result, he used the key card to enter the suite, which was calm and empty.
“Is it okay if I come in? It’s me, Andrew,” he called as he carefully walked through the room and reached the balcony where he found Diana asleep on the porch swing, bathed in sunlight. She wore the long white Ibiza dress that Emily had insisted she put on, and the necklace was finally visible around her neck. Her tousled hair blew gently in the breeze, partially covering her face.
Slowly, trying not to wake her, he approached. Hesitant, as if such a gesture could shatter everything that had happened in recent days and turn it into a mere illusion, he reached out to gently push the strands of hair from her face.
“It’s only now that I realize it was you,” Andrew thought, biting his lip.
“How could I not notice sooner? Why did I give up so quickly?” he wondered, studying every detail as if the image before him could be captured in a photograph.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/j5qTpJcQ/2.jpg]
His heart was beating faster and faster with each passing second, but the faster it beat, the more resentful he felt. His feelings could only be yearnings for the past, confusing the present with desire. It had to be that, surely, because if it was something else... he would be betraying someone truly important to him.
“Andrew?” Diana murmured, slowly opening her eyes.
“Emily told me you weren’t feeling well,” he said, quickly stepping away from her.
“I just had a bit of a headache, but I’m better now.”
“If you want to stay here…”
“No,” she interrupted him, shaking her head as she started to get up from the chair. “Let’s go join the others before it’s too late.”