Jay apologized. "I'm sorry."
Whatever the reason was, he abandoned Zoe in the end and did not stay by her side.
"It's alright," Zoe replied, accepting his apology and knowing what it was about.
And she was really over it too, even if she was not as carefree as she imagined for the longest time and did not understand why she allowed Jay to deflower her and abandon her repeatedly.
That was until now, when she genuinely realized that the past was not as important as she believed.
And because it was not, she could now tell Jay everything.
In a way, it was saying goodbye to the past.
Jay held her gaze in turn and quietly said, "At that time, I… was involved in a car accident."
Zoe did a double take.
She knew about the accident, but not when specifically.
"After I left that day, I went straight to the film set. The production was on a tight schedule, so it was very late when I finally left—and I was the one who told you to wait for me."
Did that mean… she was the reason he got in that accident?!
An aching struck Zoe's chest right then, and it only got worse by the second.
Even so, Jay's tone remained apologetic. "It happened on a mountain road when I was driving back. I only regained consciousness six months later, and they told me my car crashed down a cliff."
He apologized, even if he did not want things to turn out that way.
Even if he was the victim.
Zoe's eyes turned red even as she bit her lip.
"Then, after I learned that one of my legs was permanently crippled, I thought about staying away from you."
"Why?" Zoe asked him a little agitatedly—if only he had come to her…
Maybe—just maybe—they would not have let three years go to waste.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: A Life Debt Repaid novel (John and Cordy)