Chapter 32
What you're about to read is a chapter that explores love from different perspectives.
Again this story is not the typical romance filled with familiar clichés or predictable moments.
Instead, it embraces pain, healing, hurtful truths, personal growth, and the different ways people cope with loss, love, and life.
This story is intentionally written at a slower pace because every conversation, every silence, every realization, and every seemingly small detail serves a purpose. Each chapter builds upon the previous one, gradually shaping the narrative into the story it is meant to become.
I understand that many of you are eager to see Lingling and Orm finally have their long-awaited conversation.
However, if you've been following the story closely, Lingling herself made it clear that she wanted to give Orm the time and space to take care of Liam first. On top of that, she had only recently learned the truth from Fluke.
These moments are not delays—they are part of the emotional journey.
The smallest details matter because they lay the foundation for everything that follows.
To be honest, I'm a little surprised that I have to write another note like this, especially now that we're already on Chapter 32. It's a bit disheartening to realize that some readers still haven't understood the depth, intention, and message behind this story.
Lately, I've noticed comments that come across as demanding, impatient, or unnecessarily harsh. Constructive criticism is always welcome, but there is a difference between offering feedback and leaving comments that disregard the time, effort, and heart poured into every chapter.
I'd like to gently remind everyone that this is a free story.
No one is obligated to read it, just as I am under no obligation to write it.
I choose to share my imagination, emotions, and countless hours of work because I genuinely love storytelling and because I enjoy sharing it with those who appreciate it.
If this story no longer aligns with your preferences or you're no longer enjoying the direction it's taking, it's perfectly okay to stop reading. There are no hard feelings.
What I hope for, however, is kindness.
Sometimes I wonder how long writers are expected to endure hurtful comments before they lose the passion to continue.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons why many beautiful stories disappear without warning, why talented authors quietly take down their work, or why some eventually stop writing altogether despite loving it so deeply.
— — —
Sleep never came.
Not even for a single second.
The luxury hotel suite, so elegant and expensive only hours ago, now felt unbearably empty.
The silence was almost suffocating.
There was no television humming in the background.
No music.
No footsteps in the hallway.
No voices.
Only the faint ticking of the wall clock and the distant murmur of the ocean outside the balcony.
It was the kind of silence that refused to comfort.
Instead, it forced every buried thought to rise to the surface.
Fluke had already returned to his own room after telling her everything.
Or rather...
after shattering everything she thought she knew.
A half-empty bottle of whiskey remained on the coffee table.
The amber liquid inside barely moved.
She had poured herself several glasses throughout the night, hoping the alcohol would dull the ache inside her chest.
It hadn't.
Not even a little.
The city lights of Phuket spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, stretching long shadows across the room like ghosts from another lifetime.
Lingling remained seated on the edge of the sofa.
Motionless.
Her elbows rested on her knees while both hands covered her face.
She wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there.
Minutes.
Hours.
Perhaps the entire night.
Time no longer seemed to exist.
Her breathing came in uneven, trembling breaths.
Every inhale hurt.
Every exhale felt heavier than the last.
She couldn't organize her thoughts anymore.
Sean's confession echoed relentlessly inside her mind.
Fluke's explanations intertwined with memories she had tried to bury years ago.
And Orm...
Orm was everywhere.
Every corner of her mind.
Every beat of her heart.
Every painful realization.
Everything blurred together until the past and the present became impossible to separate.
Finally...
Lingling closed her eyes.
It was a mistake.
The darkness didn't bring peace.
It brought memories.
She saw Orm.
But not the woman she had reunited with on the beach.
Not the woman whose shy smiles still made her heart skip.
Not the woman who secretly stole glances whenever she thought Lingling wasn't paying attention.
Not the woman whose lips had found hers beneath the moonlight only the night before.
No.
She saw another version of Orm.
A version she had never allowed herself to imagine.
A young mother.
Pregnant.
Exhausted.
Pushing Sean's wheelchair through endless hospital corridors that smelled of antiseptic and hopelessness.
She saw Orm forcing herself to smile despite the dark circles beneath her eyes.
Holding Sean's hand while chemotherapy slowly drained the life from him.
Listening to doctors speak in careful, measured voices.
Pretending to stay strong.
Pretending not to be afraid.
Comforting a man who believed he was dying...
while she herself was quietly falling apart.
Lingling's hand flew to her mouth.
A broken sob escaped anyway.
"Oh, God..."
The whisper trembled through the empty room.
"What did you have to endure...?"
The images refused to disappear.
They only became clearer.
Orm sitting beside Sean's hospital bed long after visiting hours had ended.
Sleeping upright on a cheap plastic chair because she refused to leave him alone.
Waking up every few hours just to make sure he was still breathing.
Holding his hand even while silently crying.
Then another memory she had never lived...
yet could suddenly see so vividly.
Every single year...
Orm flying all the way to Paris.
Carrying nothing but a carefully wrapped chocolate banana cake.
The cake Lingling loved more than anything.
She never knocked on the door.
Never asked to see her.
Never interrupted her life.
She simply handed the cake to Lingling's mother...
offered a small smile...
and quietly disappeared.
Only to stand somewhere across the street.
Watching.
Just watching.
Making sure Lingling was healthy.
Making sure she was smiling.
Making sure she was still alive.
Without asking for anything in return.
Lingling clutched the fabric over her heart.
The pain became almost unbearable.
How...
How had she never known?
How had she spent four long years convincing herself that Orm had simply chosen someone else?
How had she believed that fate had separated them because their love had arrived too late...
when the truth was far crueler?
They had loved each other too deeply...
and sacrificed each other because they believed it was the only way to protect the people they cared about.
A hollow laugh escaped her lips.
It sounded unfamiliar.
Broken.
"I was so angry at fate..."
Another tear slipped down her cheek.
"So angry at you..."
Her voice cracked.
"I tried so hard to hate you because I believed you had stopped loving me."
She buried her face in her trembling hands.
"But you never did..."
The realization crushed something inside her.
Orm had never stopped.
Not for a single day.
Lingling had been the one who stopped believing.
For four endless years, she had replayed their final goodbye over and over until it became the only truth she allowed herself to remember.
Every word.
Every tear.
Every painful silence.
She convinced herself that Orm had abandoned her.
That she had simply become...
forgettable.
Replaceable.
Easy to leave behind.
She remembered locking herself inside her room in Paris.
Ignoring phone calls from worried friends.
Skipping meals until hunger no longer mattered.
Pretending work was keeping her busy because admitting heartbreak felt too humiliating.
She remembered countless sleepless nights.
Staring endlessly at her phone.
Waiting.
Hoping.
Praying.
For a message that never arrived.
Every sunrise whispered the same lie.
She doesn't love you anymore.
Move on.
Forget her.
She's happy now.
A bitter smile appeared on Lingling's lips.
How painfully ironic.
While she had spent four years believing Orm had forgotten her...
Orm had spent those same four years believing Lingling deserved a happier life without her.
Neither of them had stopped loving.
They had simply stopped believing they still belonged in each other's lives.
They stood on opposite sides of the same heartbreak.
Each one carrying the same wound.
Each one convinced the other had already healed.
Lingling laughed again.
This time the sound bordered on hysteria.
"What kind of love did we have?"
Her tears flowed without restraint.
"What kind of cruel story is this?"
Neither of them had cheated.
Neither had betrayed the other.
Neither had fallen out of love.
Neither had wanted to walk away.
And yet...
they still lost everything.
Four birthdays.
Four Christmases.
Four New Year's celebrations.
Four rainy afternoons.
Four ordinary mornings.
Four years filled with sunsets they never watched together.
Four years of laughter they never got to share.
Four years of memories that should have belonged to them.
Years that time would never return.
Slowly, Lingling lifted her head and looked through the window.
Above Phuket, the moon remained suspended in the night sky.
Silent.
Beautiful.
Completely unaware of the hearts breaking beneath its light.
"You were pregnant..."
she whispered.
"You were carrying Liam..."
Fresh tears blurred her vision.
"And I wasn't there."
Those four words shattered something deep inside her.
"I wasn't there when morning sickness stole your strength."
"I wasn't there to rub your aching feet."
"I wasn't there when you heard Liam's heartbeat for the first time."
"I wasn't there to hold your hand when he was born."
"I wasn't there when you cried."
"I wasn't there when you were terrified."
"I wasn't there when you signed those marriage papers with trembling hands."
"I wasn't there when Sean collapsed."
"I wasn't there when the doctors told you he had cancer."
"I wasn't there during every chemotherapy session."
"I wasn't there when you needed someone to lean on."
Her voice became almost inaudible.
"And the worst part..."
She slowly lowered her head.
"I truly believed I was the one who had suffered the most."
Silence swallowed the room once again.
Heavy.
Relentless.
Punishing.
Then another realization struck her with devastating force.
Every memory she had clung to during those four years...
had revolved entirely around her own pain.
Never once...
not even once...
had she stopped to wonder...
What if Orm was hurting too?
What if there had been another story?
Another truth?
She had chosen anger because it was easier.
Hatred demanded nothing.
Hope demanded everything.
Hope required faith.
Hope required vulnerability.
Hope would have destroyed her.
So she buried it.
And in doing so...
she buried Orm as well.
Another sob escaped her lips.
"Sean..."
she whispered.
"I'm sorry."
At last...
she understood him.
For years, she had unknowingly painted Sean as the man who had stolen Orm from her.
But Sean had never stolen anything.
If anything...
he had spent four years slowly letting her go.
Because deep inside...
he had always known.
Orm's heart had never truly belonged to him.
He hadn't been her rival.
He had simply been another broken soul trying to survive impossible circumstances.
Another victim of the same tragedy.
Then her thoughts drifted to Liam.
Sweet little Liam.
A fragile smile appeared through her tears.
That little boy had no idea that his existence had given his father a reason to keep fighting.
No idea that his mother had sacrificed everything to ensure he would grow up with a complete family.
No idea how fiercely he had been loved before he had even taken his first breath.
Lingling remembered watching Orm with him on the beach.
The tenderness in her eyes.
The patience.
The warmth.
The quiet devotion.
Then another memory surfaced.
The way Orm had looked at her.
It was exactly the same.
The same softness.
The same unconditional love.
The realization made her chest ache all over again.
Orm had never stopped looking at her that way.
Not after marriage.
Not after motherhood.
Not after years of silence.
Not after heartbreak.
Not even after everything life had taken from them.
Slowly, Lingling stood.
Her knees nearly gave out beneath her.
She walked toward the balcony.
The ocean stretched endlessly into the darkness.
Calm.
Quiet.
Beautiful.
The same ocean that had witnessed their reunion.
The same ocean that had watched them almost speak the truth.
The same ocean that had silently carried four lost years between them...
only to return them to one another when neither of them expected it.
She rested both hands against the railing.
The cool breeze brushed against her damp face.
Drying some of her tears.
But never the ache.
She looked toward the endless horizon.
"I've been asking myself one question..."
she whispered into the night.
"If I had known..."
Her voice trembled.
"If I had known everything..."
"...would I have stayed?"
The answer came before the question had even fully left her lips.
Instantly.
Without hesitation.
Without fear.
"Yes."
Another tear slid silently down her cheek.
"I would've stayed."
"I would've fought beside you."
"I would've sat beside Sean's hospital bed with you."
"I would've helped raise Liam."
"I would've reminded you to eat."
"I would've stayed awake during your sleepless nights."
"I would've held your hand through every terrifying diagnosis."
"I would've carried your burdens whenever you became too exhausted to carry them yourself."
"I would've been there."
More tears followed.
"I would've chosen you."
"My God..."
She covered her face once more.
"We could've carried all of this together."
Instead...
Orm had carried it alone.
She had sacrificed her own happiness because she believed losing the woman she loved was the price she had to pay to save everyone else.
Lingling slowly lifted her gaze toward the stars.
"How lonely were you, Orm?"
Her voice broke.
"When Sean finally fell asleep after chemotherapy..."
"...did you lock yourself inside the hospital bathroom just so no one would hear you cry?"
"When Liam curled against your chest at night..."
"...did you ever imagine it was my arms wrapped around both of you?"
"When you stood across the street in Paris every year..."
"...watching me celebrate another birthday without you..."
"...how many times did your feet beg you to run toward me?"
"How many times did your heart scream my name..."
"...only for you to silence it?"
"I spent four years mourning a future that never happened."
Her voice became barely audible.
"But you spent those same four years sacrificing yourself for everyone you loved."
"You were breaking a little more every day..."
"...and no one ever saw it."
"How painfully it is for you? That you wanted to end your life cause you're so tired to carry all of it."
"God,"
"If Fluke and Junji didn't saved you that day, "
"I'm surely lost it. I'll blame myself. I would absolutely yearn for you my whole life."
Lingling cried once more, she grips the railing so hard for her support.
The questions never stopped.
Questions only Orm could answer.
Questions that would haunt Lingling until she finally heard the truth from the woman herself.
She closed her eyes.
And there she was.
Orm.
Standing quietly across a Paris street.
Holding a carefully wrapped chocolate banana cake close to her chest.
Watching Lingling laugh with people who had no idea someone loved her enough to cross continents every year...
only to leave without saying hello.
Pretending to be just another stranger passing by.
While her own heart quietly shattered.
Lingling cried harder than she ever had in her entire life.
Not because she had lost the love of her life.
But because she finally understood...
Orm had been losing herself all along.
Piece by piece.
Silently.
Without asking anyone to notice.
Without asking anyone to save her.
And somehow...
even after all those years...
even after all the pain...
even after every sacrifice...
she still chose to love Lingling.
Quietly.
Patiently.
Faithfully.
From a distance.
Lingling looked down at the sleeping city below.
Tomorrow...
she needed to see Orm.
Not because she wanted answers anymore.
Sean had already answered the questions she had carried for four years.
Fluke had already filled in every missing piece.
No.
Tomorrow...
she simply wanted to hear her.
Every word.
Every tear.
Every silence.
Every truth that had remained trapped inside her heart for far too long.
Because for four years...
they had only listened to their own heartbreak.
Tomorrow...
for the very first time...
Lingling wanted to listen to Orm's.
Really listen.
Maybe...
their story wasn't over after all.
Maybe...
the love that had survived cancer...
distance...
marriage...
divorce...
time...
grief...
and heartbreak...
deserved one final chance to be heard.
Another tear rolled silently down her cheek.
She closed her eyes and whispered the words she should have said four years ago.
"Wait for me, Orm."
Her voice dissolved into the night carried by the ocean breeze.
"I'm finally coming home too."
— — —
The next day...............................
The gentle sound of knocking echoed through the quiet hotel suite.
Three soft knocks.
Patient.
Careful.
Almost as if the person standing outside already knew the woman inside hadn't slept.
Lingling slowly opened her eyes.
She wasn't even sure she had actually been asleep.
Perhaps she had only drifted into an exhausted daze sometime before dawn.
Her head throbbed.
Her eyes burned.
Every part of her body felt unbearably heavy, as though she had carried four years of grief on her shoulders all night.
The room looked exactly as she had left it.
The whiskey bottle still rested on the coffee table.
An untouched glass sat beside it.
The balcony door remained slightly open, allowing the cool morning breeze to drift inside.
Beyond the curtains, Phuket was already awake.
The golden sunlight reflected off the sea.
Birds sang somewhere in the distance.
People laughed.
Cars moved.
The world had continued turning...
while her own had completely fallen apart.
Another knock.
This time accompanied by a familiar voice.
"Ling?"
It was gentle.
Warm.
Concerned.
"Ling, are you awake?"
Lingling slowly forced herself to sit up.
Every movement felt exhausting.
She rubbed her swollen eyes before quietly making her way toward the door.
The moment she unlocked it...
The door slowly swung open.
Standing outside was Jingjing.
Dressed casually in a white blouse and denim jeans, she wore her usual bright smile.
In one hand she carried several paper bags from her restaurant.
In the other was a tray holding two cups of freshly brewed coffee.
"I figured you'd be starving," Jingjing said cheerfully as she stepped inside.
"I brought breakfast. I made your favorites."
She chuckled.
"I also came to make sure you're still alive after the amount of whiskey and tequila you drank the other day at my bar."
She placed everything on the dining table without waiting for an invitation.
"I tried calling you last night."
No response.
"I even messaged you."
Still nothing.
"So..." she shrugged with a teasing grin.
"I decided to check on my favorite engineer before she accidentally drank herself unconscious again."
She turned around.
Still smiling.
Until...
She finally looked at Lingling.
The smile disappeared instantly.
"Oh..."
Her voice became barely a whisper.
Lingling's eyes were swollen beyond recognition.
Dark circles rested beneath them.
Her cheeks were stained with dried tear tracks.
Even her lips looked pale.
She looked less like someone who had cried...
and more like someone whose entire soul had collapsed overnight.
Jingjing's expression immediately softened.
Without saying another word, she slowly walked toward Lingling.
She gently brushed several strands of hair away from Lingling's face before placing the back of her hand against her forehead.
Checking her temperature.
Then her fingers lightly touched beneath Lingling's eyes.
They were warm.
Tender.
Filled with concern.
"You cried..."
she murmured softly.
Not as a question.
As a fact.
Lingling lowered her eyes.
She couldn't even deny it.
Jingjing sighed quietly.
"What happened?"
No answer.
She tried again.
Her voice became even gentler.
"Did something happen after Orm took you home?"
Silence.
"Ling..."
She searched her friend's face.
"...did you and Orm finally talk?"
Lingling's lips trembled.
Jingjing immediately understood.
"You did?"
Still no answer.
"What happened?"
"Did you two fight?"
"No..."
Lingling whispered.
"Then what is it?"
Another long silence.
Jingjing patiently waited.
She knew grief couldn't be rushed.
Finally...
Lingling looked at her.
Her eyes immediately filled with tears again.
"They never told me..."
Her voice broke.
"They never told me anything."
Jingjing frowned in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
Lingling slowly walked toward the sofa.
She sat down heavily, staring blankly at the untouched breakfast on the table.
Her hands trembled.
"I spent four years believing she chose someone else."
The words barely escaped her lips.
"I hated her..."
Another tear slipped down.
"I hated Sean."
"I hated fate."
"I hated every memory we ever had."
Jingjing quietly sat beside her.
Listening.
Not interrupting.
Lingling took a shaky breath.
Then...
She told her everything.
Every single detail.
Sean's illness.
His diagnosis.
The pregnancy.
The marriage.
The sacrifices.
The attempt to end this all at once.
The annual trips to Paris.
The birthday cakes.
The silent promises.
The hidden tears.
The years Orm spent watching her from afar without ever allowing herself to get close.
How Sean had known all along.
How he had spent years trying to set Orm free.
How Orm had carried everyone's pain while quietly burying her own.
The words poured out uncontrollably.
Sometimes they came clearly.
Sometimes they dissolved into sobs.
Sometimes Lingling couldn't even finish a sentence before crying too hard to continue.
Jingjing simply listened.
Hour after hour.
Not once did she interrupt.
Not once did she judge.
She only watched as four years of bottled-up heartbreak finally came crashing down all at once.
"And do you know what hurts the most?"
Lingling whispered between tears.
Her shoulders shook violently.
"I thought..."
"I honestly thought..."
"...I was the one she abandoned."
She covered her face.
"I spent years convincing myself I wasn't enough."
"I kept asking myself what I did wrong."
"Why I wasn't worth fighting for."
"But she..."
Her voice shattered.
"She was fighting every single day."
"For Sean."
"For Liam."
"For me."
"For everyone."
"And she did it completely alone."
Jingjing felt her own eyes sting.
She reached over and gently pulled Lingling into her arms.
The moment Lingling felt the embrace...
Everything inside her finally broke.
She cried harder than before.
Not graceful tears.
Not silent tears.
These were the cries of someone mourning years that could never be returned.
Years that had been stolen by misunderstandings.
Years spent loving each other...
without either of them knowing how desperately they were still being loved.
Jingjing slowly rubbed comforting circles across her back.
"It's okay..."
she whispered.
"No..."
Lingling cried.
"It's not."
"It's not okay."
"We lost four years."
Her breathing became uneven.
"I wasn't there when she needed me."
"I wasn't there when she became a mother."
"I wasn't there when she cried herself to sleep."
"I wasn't there when she was terrified."
"I wasn't there when she needed someone to tell her she didn't have to carry everything alone."
"I wasn't there when she tried to take her own life."
"And I..."
She squeezed her eyes shut.
"I was angry at her."
"I blamed her."
"I thought she had stopped loving me."
"I thought what we have is something I couldn't have no matter how hard I tried to work it out."
She laughed bitterly through tears.
"When all this time..."
"...she never did."
Jingjing closed her own eyes for a brief moment.
Then she gently cupped Lingling's face.
"Ling."
Her voice was calm.
Steady.
"Look at me."
Slowly...
Lingling did.
Jingjing smiled sadly.
"Do you know what I see?"
Lingling silently shook her head.
"I see two women..."
"...who loved each other so deeply..."
"...that both of them believed letting go was the greatest act of love they could give."
Lingling's tears continued falling.
"You weren't abandoned."
Jingjing whispered.
"And neither was Orm."
"You were separated by fear."
"By circumstances."
"By sacrifices neither of you should have been forced to make."
She gently wiped another tear from Lingling's cheek.
"You know..."
"When I saw Orm the other day before we got drunk at my bar while I was walking near the sea..."
"I thought she was one of the strongest women I'd ever known."
She smiled faintly.
"She laughed."
"She took care of her family especially Liam."
"She smiled so easily."
"But that day..."
Jingjing's own smile slowly faded.
"I catch her staring at the ocean."
"Completely still."
"As if she was waiting for someone."
"I never understood why."
"I'd ask if she was okay."
"And she'd smile."
Always that same smile.
"Then she'd tell me..."
"I'm just thinking about someone very precious."
Jingjing looked into Lingling's tear-filled eyes.
"I know now..."
"She was talking about you."
Lingling bit down on her trembling lower lip until it hurt.
She welcomed the sting.
It was easier to focus on the pain in her mouth than the unbearable ache ripping through her chest.
Fresh tears escaped anyway.
They slid silently down her cheeks, warm and relentless, splashing onto her trembling hands resting on her lap.
She didn't bother wiping them away anymore.
What was the point?
It felt as though she had been crying for four years.
Jingjing quietly watched her.
She didn't interrupt.
She knew there were some kinds of pain that needed space before they could be touched.
Only when Lingling's sobs softened into broken breaths did Jingjing speak again.
Her voice was calm.
Gentle.
Almost like someone speaking to a frightened child who had been carrying too much for far too long.
"Do you know what heartbreak really is?"
Lingling didn't answer.
She couldn't.
Her throat had closed long before the first tear had fallen.
Jingjing lowered her eyes for a moment before looking back at her.
"It isn't simply losing the person you love."
She paused.
The silence between them stretched, allowing every word to sink deeper.
"It's knowing..."
"...that they loved you just as deeply..."
"...but life never gave either of you the chance to prove it."
Those words landed like shattered glass.
Lingling squeezed her eyes shut.
A painful sob escaped her lips before she could stop it.
Because that was exactly it.
For four years...
She believed she had been abandoned.
She believed she simply wasn't enough.
Not worth fighting for.
Not worth choosing.
Every lonely birthday...
Every sleepless night...
Every holiday that came and went...
She convinced herself that if she had only mattered a little more...
Orm would've stayed and choose her from the start.
That belief had slowly become her truth.
A truth she carried like chains wrapped around her heart.
And now...
In just devastating conversations...
Everything she had built her grief upon had crumbled.
Jingjing looked at her with eyes filled not with pity...
...but understanding.
She had seen this look before.
The empty stare.
The hollow exhaustion.
The expression of someone who had spent years fighting a ghost that had never truly existed.
"You know," Jingjing said softly, "what you're feeling right now isn't just grief."
"It's the shock of finally seeing through the fog."
Lingling slowly looked up.
Her vision blurred by tears.
Jingjing continued.
"For four years..."
"...you've been mourning a version of your story that was never true."
"You thought she walked away because she stopped loving you."
"You believed she chose someone else."
"You convinced yourself that you simply weren't enough for her to stay."
Each sentence felt like someone carefully reopening old wounds.
Because every single one was true.
She had believed all of them.
Every single day.
Jingjing inhaled quietly before continuing.
"But now..."
"...you know the truth."
Her voice became softer.
Almost heartbreaking.
"She didn't leave because she stopped loving you."
"She left because she loved you too much."
Lingling's breathing hitched.
Jingjing leaned forward, her own eyes beginning to glisten.
"She sacrificed herself."
"She carried the expectations of everyone around her until they crushed her."
"She buried her own happiness."
"She buried her own dreams."
"And she buried the woman she loved..."
"...just to keep everyone else from falling apart."
Another tear slipped down Jingjing's cheek.
"It was never because you weren't enough."
"It was because she believed your happiness would survive without her."
A long silence followed.
Then Jingjing whispered something that shattered Lingling completely.
"She chose to become the villain in your story..."
"...so you wouldn't have to carry the burden she was carrying."
Lingling covered her mouth.
A broken cry escaped through her trembling fingers.
She could suddenly see it.
Orm smiling while silently breaking.
Orm pretending she was okay.
Orm forcing herself to walk away while every step must have felt like tearing out pieces of her own heart.
How lonely...
How terrifying...
How impossible that must have been.
And Lingling...
She had hated her.
For four years.
God...
She had hated the woman who had been destroying herself just to protect everyone else.
The realization was unbearable.
"I wasted four years..."
Lingling whispered.
Her voice barely existed anymore.
"I hated her..."
"I blamed her..."
Her shoulders shook violently.
"And all this time..."
"...she was suffering too."
Jingjing reached across and gently held both of Lingling's trembling hands.
"Ling..."
"Listen to me."
"Fate is cruel."
"So unbelievably cruel."
"It kept both of you apart for four years."
"It allowed both of you to bleed..."
"...but in completely different ways."
"You cried because you believed she abandoned you."
"And she cried because she believed leaving was the only way to protect you."
Jingjing's voice cracked.
"You were both grieving the same love..."
"...without knowing the other person never stopped holding onto it."
Neither of them spoke.
Morning sunlight slowly spilled across the wooden floor.
The waves outside rolled endlessly toward the shore.
Life continued.
Even while hearts were breaking.
"You cannot change those four years."
Jingjing finally said.
"No matter how much you cry."
"No matter how many times you blame yourself."
"No matter how desperately your heart wishes it could go back."
She gently squeezed Lingling's hands.
"Time doesn't reverse itself."
"It doesn't return lost birthdays."
"It doesn't erase lonely nights."
"It doesn't give back the moments you should have shared."
Lingling lowered her head.
More tears fell.
"So what do I do now...?"
she whispered.
"I'm too late..."
"Aren't I?"
"What if I've already lost her?"
"What if we've become strangers wearing the faces of the people we used to love?"
"What if..."
Her voice shattered.
"...what if we can't save each other anymore?"
Jingjing smiled.
It wasn't a smile filled with certainty.
It was the quiet smile of someone offering hope without making promises.
"Ling."
"If it were truly too late..."
"...she wouldn't have been the one to carry you home that night."
"If it were too late..."
"...she wouldn't still look at you the way she does."
"The kind of look people only have when they've never really stopped loving someone."
"If it were too late..."
"Sean would've had no reason to be brave."
"He wouldn't have apologized."
"He wouldn't have fought through his own guilt just to make sure you finally learned the truth."
Jingjing's eyes softened.
"That man..."
"...entrusted the woman he loved..."
"...to the only person he knew had never stopped loving her."
The words broke whatever fragile wall Lingling still had left.
She burst into tears again.
Not graceful tears.
Not quiet tears.
They were the ugly, uncontrollable sobs of someone whose soul had finally become too exhausted to keep pretending she was strong.
She cried until she couldn't breathe.
Cried for every lonely night.
For every unanswered question.
For every cruel misunderstanding.
For every version of herself that believed she had never been enough.
This time...
She wasn't crying because she was drowning in regret.
She was crying because...
for the very first time in four long years...
someone had handed her something she had stopped believing existed.
Hope.
Jingjing moved closer and wrapped both arms around her.
Holding her tightly.
Protectively.
Like an older sister sheltering someone who had finally allowed herself to collapse after carrying the weight of the world alone.
She gently stroked Lingling's hair.
"You know what I think?"
she whispered.
"I think Sean already forgave you."
"I think Orm never blamed you."
"The only person who's still holding the knife..."
"...is you."
Jingjing slowly rested her forehead against Lingling's.
"The only person left to forgive..."
"...is yourself."
Lingling closed her eyes.
Fresh tears soaked Jingjing's shoulder.
Neither of them moved.
Neither of them spoke.
Until Jingjing gently exhaled.
"But here's the piece of advice you actually need to hear."
She leaned back just enough for Lingling to see the quiet honesty in her eyes.
"The truth doesn't automatically promise a happy ending."
Lingling's heartbeat slowed.
She listened.
Not because she wanted to hear it.
But because she knew she needed to.
"The real question isn't whether you still love each other."
"I don't think that's ever been the problem."
"The real question is this..."
She held Lingling's gaze.
"Can love exist without asking either soul to lose itself again?"
The room became impossibly still.
"You survived a four-year drought."
"So did she."
"But survival changes people."
"It teaches them how to hide."
"How to endure."
"How to build walls thick enough that nothing can hurt them again."
"You both grew older."
"You both grew stronger."
"And somewhere along the way..."
"...you both grew armor."
Jingjing's voice remained gentle, but every word carried the weight of truth.
"If you take everything you've learned today and try to force your story back to what it was four years ago..."
"...you might only reopen wounds that have barely learned how to stop bleeding."
"Love isn't about returning to the past."
"It's about discovering whether the people you've become can still choose each other in the present."
She smiled sadly.
"So now you have a choice."
"You can let this truth become the bridge that finally leads both of you back to each other..."
"...or you can let it become the closure that allows both of you to finally breathe."
Her eyes drifted toward the ocean beyond the window.
"Sometimes the most beautiful love stories aren't measured by how long they last."
"Sometimes they're measured by how deeply they transform the people who lived them."
"Some loves stay."
"Some loves leave."
"And some loves..."
"...become the reason we learn how to love ourselves again."
She looked back at Lingling.
"Whatever you choose..."
"Don't choose out of guilt."
"Don't choose because you're trying to repay four years of pain."
"And don't choose because you're afraid of letting go."
She gently wiped another tear from Lingling's face.
"Choose the path that lets you breathe again."
"Choose the life where your heart no longer has to apologize for existing."
The room fell quiet once more.
Only the sound of Lingling's soft sobs remained.
Outside, the waves continued rolling gently onto the shore.
Again.
And again.
And again.
As though the sea itself understood that healing was never a single moment...
but countless quiet returns to the shore after every storm.
As if the ocean itself was patiently waiting...
for two hearts that had spent four long years drifting farther and farther apart...
to finally find the courage...
to find the truth...
and perhaps—
to find their way back home.