Prologue - February 2008
“I love you, Stella. You are the only one for me. Shit. I want to marry you one day.”
Liam whispered and gave me a nervous smile while he held my hand in his. I locked my eyes with him, and I could feel my cheeks blushing from hearing him say those words. ‘He wants to marry me?’ I studied his eyes, and I could feel that he was truthful and meant every word he spoke out loud.
“I love you too.” I breathed out shyly without breaking eye contact. Liam’s smile grew more prominent, pulling me into his loving embrace. I could hear his heartbeat faster as I rested my head against his chest with my arms around his neck.
I wished we could have stayed like that forever.
To hear Liam say those words were exactly what I wanted to hear and dreamed of from the first day I met him.
It had always been him since I first saw him in high school
I loved him wholeheartedly, even before I knew him.
Being with him was all I could think about.
I had been obsessed with him for months when he asked me on a date. I was over the moon. My best friend Emma at the time was so envious of me.
We both talked about how hot Liam was and argued about who was more in love and worthy of him. I won.
And one month after we started dating, Liam asked me to be his girlfriend. We spent every waken hour together.
We talked, laughed, and cuddled to movies every other night at his place. He had his apartment primarily to himself since his father was often outside the city for work, where he spent most of his time in the United States.
I was 15, and Liam was the most dreamy guy I had ever seen, and all the girls at school wanted to be with him, but he chose me. ME! Stella Carson. He wanted to be with me. He was the best-looking guy in his senior year.
And that night, when he finally told me what I had wanted to hear, he became my first everything. I gave him my innocence that night, believing that he loved me and that we would be together forever. I wish I’d known that night would be the last I’d see of him. Because he disappeared into thin air the next day.
Leaving me heartbroken and with millions of unanswered questions. I woke up the day after with so much love within, looking for Liam, only to find out that he was nowhere to be found.
I called him over and over again but only got his voicemail.
I went to his apartment and knocked on his door for hours, but nobody ever opened it.
I called every guy that may know where he was. I even called the hospital to find out if he got into an accident.
Nobody knew where he was or why he left; at least nobody told me whether they did. We had been in a relationship for a year.
A whole fucking year. And then Liam left me after I gave in.
I made him my first, believing that I would be his last.
I was so heartbroken. I didn’t leave my room for a month.
I refused to return to school, and my mom let me do most of the homework from home after talking to the principal.
I felt so cheap and degraded.
The guy who made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world was now making me feel like a bag of trash. The first weeks were the hardest. I bawled my heart out, wondering why he had left me. Spending hours convincing myself that I was useless, a whore, and no one could ever love me.
But a tiny piece of my heart was still hoping that he would knock on my door and tell me that it was all a mistake and that he had to leave town without being able to tell me that.
But months went by, and I had to accept that he wasn’t coming back, and it was over. At least, that’s what I thought.
