Prologue

A fallen star

He had been walking for hours, tracing the shoreline with every step, trying to count the endless stars that glimmered above him. Escaping. That's what he was doing. He was escaping from a life that wasn't his. A life that had been imposed on him by those who were supposed to love him.

They had finally chosen a date, and now it was a matter of counting the days as they passed much too fast, since in four months Blaine Anderson would become a married man.

It was to be expected. His father desired an heir, and his dimwitted yet kindhearted brother refused to touch the family business. Thus, all hopes and obligations fell upon little Blaine's shoulders. And he accepted the burden.

There are people in this world that wish for nothing but love, and sometimes such people are willing to sacrifice their happiness in exchange for a kind word and a loving smile. Blaine Anderson was such a man.

He sat on a fallen trunk next to the shore and looked at the dark sea, wondering if other lost souls were watching the same stars, questioning their meaningless lives, finding their future as insufferable as he found his.

As soon as his mother had called him to inform him when the location of the ceremony would be available, Blaine had known that he would be deprived of any chance of happiness forever. It wasn't that his fiancée was an evil woman. Au contraire. But he wasn't in love, and she knew it. It was a marriage of convenience for both of them. And to be deprived of love...

He could see the outline of the rest of his days clearly: a steady job, his wife throwing social gatherings every weekend, maybe two kids: a boy and a girl... And he would love them. He was certain that he'd adore those children. But he would most definitely not be happy.

Blaine had fled towards the beach house as soon as the call had ended. He'd told Quinn, and she'd understood. She, too, was nothing but another casualty of society and duty. They'd been friends from the start, when the two of them had met as sweet little children, lost in an endless web of masks and pretense. And now they would be married.

He rubbed his eyes and sighed as he watched the tumultuous sea. The moon was high up above, and the waves danced violently, as if the sea had a secret desire of reaching that distant orb. Or were they maybe saying 'hello' to each other, like old pals?

A falling star crossed the speckled sky, and Blaine smiled, remembering the tales he'd adored as a child. Innocent narrations in which common people, princes and princesses looked up to the sky, made a wish and it was granted. Stories that ended with the sweet and promising 'and they lived happily ever after'.

And at twenty-five years of age, Blaine Anderson parted his lips, sighed with endless desolation, and whispered a simple: "I wish I could love, just once".

He looked around, almost hoping that something would happen, just like in his fairytales. But nothing did. Blaine chuckled and glanced towards the eternal sea, wishing that somewhere out there that fallen star would grant someone a wish, and that such a wish came from a longing that could give that lucky person endless happiness.

And although he couldn't know at that instant, it did.