The tip of her nose stung. Of course she had been moved by all the things he had done for her, but… perhaps it was just their luck that when they first met, she knew nothing about romantic love. All she knew then was friendship.

And when they met each other again as adults, her heart had been conquered entirely by another person, so much so that she could no longer find any space in there to love anybody else.

"Yes," she answered him decisively.

His eyes were full of pain, almost as if he had just been hit by lightning.

"How could you be so sure?" he asked her. "You only said that to make me give up on you, right?! Because you already got married to Jackson, and because you're pregnant with his child—that's why you gave me that answer, right?"

"No," Serenity denied. "Even if I hadn't got married to Jackson and not been pregnant, I would still give you the same answer."

"Do you love him, then? Do you love Jackson?"

He stared straight at her, almost as if trying to use the last en