The Last Time I Cried Your Name novel Chapter 224

Tomorrow was New Year’s Eve. The White Estate, which would normally be glowing with red lanterns and paper decorations, looked all quiet and colorless this year.

The cold outside felt endless. The sky was heavy with clouds, and no sunlight managed to get through. The bluestone at the side gate of the estate felt like ice under Petty’s knees.

Her mind couldn’t help but wander back to the past when her grandma had come all that way, personally bringing her home from a distant relative’s house where she was never really wanted. Grandma had scooped her up and said, “Such a sweet girl, and they call you a burden? I want you, Petty. I’ll show them, everyone will see that you’re loved. You have a home now.”

When she’d gotten bullied at school, grandma had gone to those kids’ parents in the middle of the night, called them over for “tea,” and told the world The White Group would never work with them again.

When Petty was little and got sick, burning up with fever, it was her grandma—well into her sixties—who stayed up all night beside her, soothing her, coaxing medicine into her, and placing cool towels on her burning forehead.

When Owen picked on her, grandma made him stand in front of her and apologize a hundred times. Then she took Petty aside and said, “He can say sorry all he likes, but you don’t have to forgive him. That’s your choice.”

For her coming-of-age party, grandma had squinted through her reading glasses, flipping through fashion magazines, then stayed up late sewing a dress herself. On that day, Petty was the most beautiful and unforgettable girl in the room.

Grandma always insisted, “Other girls might have things, but Petty, you’ll have more, you’ll have better. Who could be prettier than our Petty?”

Grandma said, more than once, “Don’t you ever think you’re a burden. You’re a gift, Petty. You’re the little warm jacket sent to keep my heart safe.”

These memories spun around and around in Petty’s mind. The ache of nostalgia felt almost too much to bear. It was easier to lose herself in the past than face the emptiness in front of her.

Someone called out, faint and far away at first.

“Petty!”

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