Final Approach to Freedom

Chapter 23

The afternoon sun slanted across the airport runway as Alexander Hartley stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows of the terminal, watching two figures walking side by side.

Evelyn Montgomery and Julian Carter chatted and laughed, their pilot uniforms gleaming under the sunlight. On their casually resting hands, simple band rings shimmered with understated elegance.

Alexander's heart twisted sharply.

He remembered the extravagant diamond ring he had given her—luxurious, yet never worn. He had never truly understood her. How could someone who needed to be ready for takeoff at any moment wear something as cumbersome as a diamond?

Just like their marriage, it had been wrong from the very beginning.

"Professor Hartley?"

The familiar voice sent a jolt through him. Evelyn and Julian had somehow appeared right in front of him.

"This is our wedding invitation," Julian said, handing him a gilded card, his gaze sharp as an eagle's. "We hope you'll come."

Alexander's fingers trembled slightly as he took the invitation, nearly dropping it. "...Of course."

On the wedding day, Alexander chose a seat in the farthest corner. He watched the radiant couple standing at the altar in their pilot uniforms, listening to their solemn vows:

"I swear with my life and the career I hold dear..."

Every word cut into his heart like a knife. That should have been his place, his vows.

During the toast, Alexander suddenly stood and drained his glass in one gulp.

"Julian," his voice was hoarse, "if you ever let her down—"

"I won't." Julian cut him off firmly. "Everything I have belongs to the skies and Evelyn."

Alexander gave a bitter smile and downed another drink. He wanted to say, I could have given her that too, but it was far too late.

After the wedding, Alexander returned alone to Newchester. In his office, there was always one photograph—a candid shot he had taken of Evelyn on her first solo flight.

"Professor, are you married?" a new student once asked curiously.

Alexander absently rubbed his bare ring finger and murmured, "I had a wife once..."

Late at night, he would dream of that moment again and again—what if he had never asked for the divorce? What if he had realized his feelings sooner?

But life had no what-ifs.

When Lucas Bennett urged him to remarry, Alexander only shook his head. "If it's not her, then no one else."

At last, he understood—his heart had been lost the very first moment he saw Evelyn at the courthouse steps. But he had been foolish enough to spend a lifetime of solitude paying for that mistake.