Chapter 1

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Chapter 1
Hero's POV:
"It's not going to work. It will be even worse over time and you know it!" Josephine yells at me. And my heart hurts. Not just for her words, but for her acute voice that buns through my ears and reminds me moment after a moment that we will never have a future.
"We won't know if we don't try. We already feel enough pain together, imagine if we would stay away from each other." I say, and her gaze immediately falls to the floor. Maybe she's thinking about her life without me.
"It has...already stopped working, Hero." She doesn't add a word but sinks her eyes on mine. Maybe she knows how much it hurts me, maybe she hasn't noticed what her eyes do to me. She turns around, opens the door of what had to be our happy place and leaves me forever.

After leaving the plane, I cross the street cursing at myself for thinking about her. It's been nine months since we broke up, but my heart still feels heavy on my chest for the lack of her presence.

When we finished recording the movies it was as if the thread that had held us together for some time had been broken. We fell in love slowly, although neither of us could go without the other. But there was something wrong with what we were doing, because maybe we fell in love pretending to be other people, being Hardin and Tessa.
Yet we both knew that every caress wasn't fake, it felt like it was me and her. We felt the pressure from people, from the distance, but even when we broke up we always came back together.
I spent the best times of my life with her and the worst times without her. We laughed like we never did before and broke each others hearts. We have always solved our problems in order not to give up. And in the end we gave up.

The sound of a horn wakes me up from my thoughts.
I'm going to do a photoshoot in LA. My routine hasn't changed: traveling to work, making movies, being a model sometimes, visiting my family, going out with my friends...the most satisfying thing is to act in front of the camera, at least I won't have to be myself for a while.

"Hero, are you ready?" my agent says.
"I am, give me a moment." And as I say I take the thousandth Uber for the thousandth work trip. I know I'm not grateful enough for what I have, but only the little things make us feel good for real and I lost them a long time ago. I do love my life, my job, but how can that compensate for the void I feel in my chest?

Just smile, I say to myself. Even if I never smile if I have no reasons.
"Why are you laughing?" asks the driver, with a curious expression on his face.
"Uhm...nothing."
"First time in LA?"
"Does it seem i'm going to LA for the first time?" and I laugh again.
"Actually no. Who goes for the first time to LA has dreamy eyes."
"Do you at least you know who I am?"
"A guy with sad eyes." he mumbles.
I thought nobody had noticed it.
"How long is it the drive?" "Five minutes."

I look out of the window, eager to get out of the Uber. There are a few wise people in the world who know how to read you even if they don't know you.  And, of course, I had to be with such a driver.
But something on the street catches my attention. At first the figure is blurred, then it becomes clearer and clearer.
And my breath catches in my throat.
Like the first time I've met her.

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