All too late for his love

"The sixth floor... Willow!"

Kenan dashed down the stairs like a madman.

Willow stayed on the sixth floor of the eighth block. While it might not be her apartment unit that caught fire, it was still concerning that she did not pick up any of his calls.

Zayn couldn't keep his composure, either. He released Nelson and ran downstairs after Kenan but bumped into Skyler on the first floor.

Skyler beamed at Zayn and said, "I can't believe we're celebrating our engagement, Zayn! It feels like a dream."

Zayn didn't bother stopping to muse over that day's festivities with Skyler. He charged past her as if she weren't there at all.

Skyler sensed that something was wrong when she noticed how frantic he was. She hurried after him and clutched his arm tightly.

"Where are you going. Zayn? The ceremony's about to start! You can't leave now."

"Skyler, I have to go!" Zayn said as he pried her hands off him.

"No, Zayn. You can't!" Skyler insisted, tightening her grip.

"We're getting engaged today, and many guests are waiting for us. If you run away now, what will they think of me?

"You can't do this to me, Zayn. You can't be so cruel as to embarrass me like this!"

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she said this. Just like how he had compromised with her countless times in the past, she thought Zayn might stay after seeing her waterworks.

However, Skyler was surprised that her crying did not affect him at all. He looked like he hadn't even seen her tears as he continued running out the door like a madman.

"Zayn!" she shrieked after him in disbelief.

At that point, Zayn had already bolted through the doors. He and Kenan made their way to the parking lot in silence.

Zayn's Koenigsegg zipped down the road like lightning, but even then, Zayn found it too slow, The fear was eating away at him. He could step on his gas pedal to the maximum, but there was no way he could immediately transport himself to Bordello.

The car sped past the buildings so fast that it was a blur. A good ten minutes had passed before Zayn and Kenan arrived at Bordello.

A crowd had gathered outside the neighborhood to watch the commotion, though a small part of them Chapin 265

were mourning over the loss of a life.

Zayn did not make his way up the apartment building immediately. He stood on the ground floor and stared blankly at the last bit of smoke trailing from the window of one of the units.

He counted the floors. The first, the second, the third...

He counted the units from left to right.

The smoke was coming out from the window of the apartment he and Willow called home.

Zayn staggered backward. He would have collapsed to the ground if he weren't still holding onto the car door.

Kenan's face was ashen. A grim look passed over his youthful features as he trudged forward, his movements stiff and his shoulders hunched like his bones had been turned into lead.Text © owned by NôvelDrama.Org.

He couldn't help the sense of loathing that filled him. He should never have left Willow all by herself in the apartment.

All the foolish thoughts he'd had before leaving the apartment haunted him now.

He thought he would only be gone for two hours, at the most, and make it O back to the apartment before she woke up. He'd told himself that N

nothing wrong could happen to her then.

And yet, something terrible did happen to Willow.

Zayn and Kenan moved on autopilot. They weren't sure how they reached the sixth floor.

As they stopped outside the apartment and stared at the swaying front door that had been nearly burned step in. off its hinges, they couldn't muster the strength or courage They couldn't lift their feet and move past the threshold without some superhuman effort.

The apartment had been barricaded by police tape. The firemen weren putting out smoke in various places to keep the wind from fanning the flames and causing another fire.

The body, which had been burned to a crisp, lay in the center of the living room.

When the firemen broke through the apartment, the occupant no longer showed any signslor vitality.

All they did was lay a piece of fireproof cloth over the body as a show of respect to the dead.