Chapter 14

I had asked him once, in one of those moments when I couldn't stop myself: why did he still love me, knowing who I really was?

I was rarely brave. I was always afraid of disappointing someone. I was cautious and slow. Even now, with my own parents, I still couldn't fully be myself.

So many flaws.

Cain took my face in his hands and pressed his lips to my forehead.

"Those aren't flaws. That's your gentleness. That's how you stay soft in a world that tries to make everything hard."

I understood then.

The people who love you.

They can find your worth in the places where you've been hiding it from everyone, including yourself.

I'm glad I didn't close off the part of me that could love.

Staying alone was my right.

So was choosing this.

The world had wrapped so many meanings around Bonding that people forgot what it was supposed to be: two people who love each other, choosing to always have each other close.

The day I stood in front of everyone and said "I do" —

I wasn't the one being chosen.

I was choosing.

Wren Pemberton. My own choice.