and we promised

Chapter 13

NATHAN

My mother believes in soulmates.

Growing up, she would always make Dad and me watch these movies with her. Dad and I are both sports fans, so we would have rather watched anything else. My Dad is a hockey player and I used to play pro football, so watching Mom's romcoms wasn't exactly on our wish list. However, we would always give up in the end and the romcoms were worth it since Mom was really happy.

If there is something I learned from those movies, it would be the definition of soulmates.

Growing up, I got the chance to see it firsthand. I highly believe that if there were to be a couple that portrays what soulmates is about, that couple would be my parents.

I always wished to find a love like theirs. The soulmate-type of love.

And I found it.

Only to lose it.

"You are joking right?", I can hear Livie tell her boyfriend. She's laughing at something he said, her smile so bright and she seems to really like him. He seems to make her happy. She's so happy.

I'm breaking.

They say nothing can hurt more than physical pain. Like if you get a punch, it hurts. But I know physical pain well enough and having to watch the love of my life being in love with someone else hurts far worse.

"I swear I had no idea about this", I can hear my cousin's voice from behind.

Lewis caught up with me and is now also staring at the couple in front of us.

"You didn't know?", I ask him surprised. Lewis and Aria are the only ones who kept contact with Livie in these last four years. For, no matter how many times I tried to call her, she never picked up, and no matter how many letters I wrote to her, she didn't answer to any of them.

"No", Lewis replies. "We talked before she went to stay in Cordelia and she didn't mention having any boyfriend. And I didn't stalk her online or something to find out." I raise an eyebrow at him. He shrugs. "Haven't been online much lately."

"And didn't Aria know?", I ask him. I remember Aria being good friends with her at the time I left.

"I don't know. I haven't been talking to many people either lately. I haven't seen Aria in a few years. Livie mentions her sometimes, saying that the two of them are besties now. I don't know much about her apart from that."

I sigh and I feel like my heart has been cut open as the couple stops and Livie raises herself on her tiptoes to meet Alderidge's cheek. He quickly moves his head one inch so that her lips meet his mouth apart from the cheek.

I remember how I used to do that to her all the time.

I wonder if she remembers it too.

Or if she just voluntarily forgot.

"That is so disgusting", Lewis said, rolling his eyes bored.

I have to sigh annoyed. "Says the only one of us with a girlfriend", I counter.

He freezes. And as he speaks again, his voice comes colder than ice itself. "Scarlett and I aren't together anymore."

"You aren't?", I ask surprised. Last I remember, they were even planning to get engaged.

"No, we aren't", he replies. His tone shows that's the end of this conversation.

I nod understanding and after throwing another glance at the lovebirds in front of me, I feel the need to throw up. He's kissing my spot. The spot behind her left ear, the one that was my favorite spot to kiss her on.

I need to get out of here.

"Hey, Lewis", I let out, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"Yes?"

"I am going to go get some interviews with the other teams. Find you later?"

He nods agreeing, and from the look in his eyes I think he got how badly I needed to leave.

Excusing myself, I turn around and leave in the opposite direction. Honestly, I don't think anyone apart from Lewis noticed me leaving, for I didn't get any other answer apart from his nod.

I need to get out.

Silently cursing every second of these years in which I was away from her, I make my way through the paddock. This is my first time attending a formula one race. I have attended other sport events before. Growing up a bunch of hockey games. Then many football games of the team I used to play in. Even after the accident, I couldn't just say goodbye to sports. And even though I couldn't practice them anymore apart from some exercises at the gym and a mild run, I still wanted to be part of the sports world.

That's how Aivilo Report started.

I started writing articles about sport events I'd attend on a blog. At first, they would be mostly about hockey, since I spent a lot of time with my parents after I got out of the hospital. As my uncles heard about my blog, they wanted to help and soon I was writing about football and volleyball too. Both my uncles are playing pro and helped me a lot to discover new sports. Shortly after, I started getting a lot of attention and sponsors. People liked my blog posts. I started a company, got a headquarters and even started publishing the articles in a magazine. Right now, Aivilo is a company with hundreds of employees, and many more readers than I could ever dream of.

Even though I could just sit back and relax given the fact I have other people doing my work now, I still enjoy taking interviews with the athletes and getting out there. It's why I started this thing in the first place.

The articles Aivilo shares also cover Formula One, but we have a division of people doing those articles. I mostly stick to hockey and ball sports. However, I felt like I wanted to take a trip, and one of my uncles said Lewis might be here. I hadn't seen him in four years. I texted him and he confirmed that he'll be here, suggesting we should meet to catch up.

That's how I ended up here.

Honestly, I regret it now.

I should have rather covered the rugby tournament happening this weekend.

Swearing inside, I take out my phone and text one of my employees. Zarah and Fabian are also here, together with Griffin and Vera. They are on the Formula One division of Aivilo and are the ones who always attend the grands prix. I decide to text Fabian, since he's the one I get along the better with. They split up to get as much content as possible. Vera is also one of the people responsible for our social media page, so she wanted to take many pictures for us to post.

Fabian replies saying they want to gather at the starting line since the race is about to begin.

I turn around and look at the APOLLO garage again.

The one in which the woman I've spent four years aching for and counting down the days until I'd see her again is kissing another.

I take a deep breath trying to fight the tears to stay inside and make my way to the others.