Can’t Win Me Back

The once pristine white rose petals were now marred by the dark stain of Julien's blood.

"Let's end it here." Julien's voice was soft, yet those four words shattered Jonah's heart into fragments.

"Julien, I will not allow you to leave me!" Every muscle in Jonah's body trembled with desperation.

A ferocious rage ignited in his eyes.

"I know who I love.

You are not a substitute for anyone! Julien, don't leave me...

I cannot let you go!" Panic coursed through him.

He cried and pleaded, desperately trying to hold Julien back.

Torn between gentleness and force, he was willing to accept any outcome as long as the man he adored stayed with him.

The first time it happened, Jonah had barely survived the emotional turmoil.

If it happened again, it would drive him to the brink of insanity and death.

His breathing became ragged; his bloodshot eyes blazed with determination.

With open arms, Jonah moved to embrace Julien, who had been reduced to pieces.

But just as he leaned in, a sharp pain shot through his left eye.

"Don't touch me!" In a moment of uncontrolled rage, Julien had grabbed another rose, dragging its thorny stem across Jonah's face.

Jonah was fortunate to have closed his eyes just in time; otherwise, that thorn could have slashed his eyeball, leaving him blinded.

Julien stared at the bloodied cut on Jonah's face, momentarily forgetting his own pain.

Dazed, his hands trembled as the instinct to care for Jonah flickered within him.

Yet he fought against it, forcing out the words, "Jonah, you need to go to the hospital—" Jonah couldn't be bothered about himself.

drop of blood trickled

Julien into his

"Promise me, then...

"Jonah, I admit that I still love

come to this, I'm unable to convince myself to stay with you."

that he once had

side in the future will only make me feel like I'm acting

of your love for

I want, in particular, is just that bit of purity." As he said that,

throaty voice, he continued, "I really envy you and

able

Jonah, that's enough.

it for us..." By the time Alyssa and Sean arrived, Julien had

Jonah knelt, a forlorn shadow of his

Alyssa's heart sank.

She stumbled backward slightly.

alive but resembled an empty

"Ms.

in the

Jonah and Dr.

Lovelace?" Sean questioned anxiously.

been probing her the entire journey there but was unable to

a few years when

this! Alyssa took

wait

a talk with Jonah in private." Knitting his brows

option but to retreat and wait outside

Jonah's downcast expression, Alyssa welled up

slowly, knelt down, and picked up the roses

up the greeting card containing Julien's

her vision, smudging

a ball of fury exploded within