Chapter 641

I glanced back at the window. The amusement park, once eerie and dead quiet, was now lit up like a dream. Cheers from outside drifted in, muffled but unmistakable.

“It’s back,” Wayne muttered, eyes glued to the glowing scene beyond the glass.

“Ms. Kay, Mr. Johnston, look…” One of the tech guys pointed at the monitor, his voice tight.

I followed his gaze. The lights on the screen weren’t stable anymore. They’d warped into messy, zigzagging streaks.

“There’s still an issue,” Wayne said, frowning hard.

For a beat, I just stared, heart pounding. Then, without thinking, I bolted for the door. I didn’t stop running until I was outside. The noise hit me like a wall—screams, gasps, and excited chatter. A crowd had gathered, all pointing at the lights.

“There are words up there!” someone shouted.

I tilted my head back, and my breath caught. The shifting lights sparked a memory—Hayden’s proposal. My chest squeezed as I remembered the streamers, the words floating around me: [Kiki, marry me.]

“It says ‘Kiki, marry me!’”

“It’s a proposal!”

“Who’s Kiki?!”

“OMG, I wish someone would do this for me…”

The crowd’s buzz grew louder, escalating into full-blown excitement. But I couldn’t move. Tears blurred my vision as the lights overhead pulsed with the same words, Kiki, marry me, over and over again, glowing steady against the chaos.

It was Hayden. Of course, it was Hayden!

This whole thing—it had his name written all over it. Nobody else could pull off something like this with the lights. This wasn’t some random glitch; it was intentional. It was him.

He was pissed. Pissed at me for being reckless. So, he staged all this to make a point.

The realization hit me like a punch to the chest. I started shouting, “Hayden! Hayden!”

No answer. Just the crowd, losing their minds, chanting, “Say yes! Say yes!”

I wanted to say yes. God, I wanted to. But…where was he?

Right when the noise peaked, the lights snapped off. Boom—total darkness. The cheers cut out like someone had hit pause on the world. Even I couldn’t make a sound.

For a split second, everything felt frozen, suspended in time.

Then, just as suddenly, the lights exploded back on, brighter and more colorful than before, flooding the park in a kaleidoscope of brilliance.

But my world? It felt…dimmer. That fleeting magic Hayden had left behind—it was gone, just like that.

“You okay?” Wayne’s voice jolted me. He was next to me now, his face full of concern.

I couldn’t answer. My throat felt like it was closing in on itself, trapping every word I wanted to say.

“Those lights earlier…they were probably something Hayden programmed before,” Wayne said quietly. “The glitch must’ve triggered it to play again.”

Did I need his explanation? No. All I needed to know was that Hayden had loved me. That was enough.

Without a word, I spun on my heel and started walking—no, marching—toward the center of the amusement park.

“Rea, what are you doing?” Wayne called, his voice tight with worry.

I didn’t stop. Didn’t answer. I just moved faster.

He wasn’t far behind, though. Of course, he wasn’t. Wayne caught up, his hand gripping my arm to pull me back. “We need to go back.”

I jerked away, his hold slipping. “I’m not leaving. You can go.”

“Rea,” he said, more urgently now, “weren’t you investigating Demi’s whereabouts? I found something.”

My heart twisted at the mention of Demi, but I shook my head and tugged harder. “Let me go! Please, Wayne, just let me go!”

Wayne hesitated, then finally let his hand drop. I turned and ran deeper into the amusement park, never once looking back.