Chapter 34
Still a flashback..............................
A week after.
The sound of wedding bells drifted through the air, gentle and melodic, echoing against the beautiful garden like a promise of forever.
Rows of white roses lined the aisle.
The orchestra played a beautiful love song that filled every corner of the garden with warmth.
Guests smiled as they watched the bride make her entrance.
Some wiped away tears of happiness.
Others whispered about how breathtaking she looked in her wedding gown.
Families exchanged proud glances.
Friends congratulated one another.
Every photograph captured joy.
Every laugh carried hope.
To everyone...
It was the beginning of a beautiful love story.
A day that would be remembered as one of the happiest moments of two people's lives.
But to Orm...
It felt like she was attending her own funeral.
Every step she took down the aisle felt impossibly heavy.
The train of her white gown swept gracefully across the soft grass, yet to her, it felt as though chains were wrapped around her ankles, dragging her toward a life she had never dreamed of.
Her bouquet trembled in her hands.
Not because she was nervous.
But because she was trying—desperately—to keep herself from falling apart.
She lifted her eyes toward the altar.
Sean was waiting for her.
Dressed in a pristine black tuxedo.
Trying to smile despite the exhaustion that illness had carved into his face.
He looked grateful.
Hopeful.
He looked like a man who had finally been given another chance to live.
But no matter how hard Orm tried...
No matter how many times she forced herself to focus...
She couldn't stop imagining someone else standing where Sean was.
Not Sean.
Lingling.
She could see her so vividly that it hurt.
Lingling, dressed in a white suit, smiling with those warm eyes that had always made Orm feel safe.
The woman who would have reached for her trembling hands without hesitation.
The woman who would have whispered,
"You're shaking, my love."
The woman who would have leaned close just to make her laugh before the ceremony began.
The woman she had imagined marrying countless times.
Every note played by the orchestra became another memory.
Another dream.
Another future they had built together in quiet conversations and hopeful promises.
A small house filled with laughter.
Slow Sunday mornings.
Coffee shared on the balcony.
Growing old together.
Watching their children run through the garden.
Celebrating birthdays.
Fighting over silly things.
Making up before bedtime.
Holding each other when life became too heavy.
A lifetime.
A forever.
A future...
That no longer existed.
She felt tears threaten to fall.
Not today.
Please...
Not today.
She swallowed them back.
Because today...
She was expected to smile.
The officiant began speaking.
His voice faded into distant echoes.
Words about love.
Commitment.
Faithfulness.
Forever.
Orm heard none of them.
All she could hear...
Was Lingling's laughter.
All she could see...
Was Lingling's smile.
All she could feel...
Was the emptiness beside her.
Then came the question.
The one she had dreaded for days.
"Do you, Orm, take Sean to be your lawful husband?"
Silence.
Time itself seemed to stop.
The entire chapel waited.
Her lips slowly parted.
"...I do."
The words escaped her mouth.
Soft.
Steady.
Certain.
But inside...
Her soul whispered a different answer.
The name echoed inside her heart so loudly that it almost drowned out the applause that followed.
She kept wondering...
Where was Lingling at that exact moment?
Was she sitting alone somewhere, staring at the ring she never got to place on Orm's finger?
Was she crying until there were no tears left?
Was she angry?
Did she hate Orm now?
Had she finally convinced herself to let go?
Or was she still waiting...
Still hoping...
Still believing Orm would come back?
Every unanswered question became another knife twisting mercilessly inside Orm's chest.
She couldn't breathe.
Couldn't think.
Couldn't even feel the ring sliding onto her finger.
Because another hand should have been holding hers.
Another woman should have been standing across from her.
Another life should have begun today.
There was one fleeting moment...
Just before they exchanged vows...
When Orm almost ran.
Her breathing became uneven.
Her heart pounded violently against her ribs.
Her fingers twitched.
Her feet wanted to move.
Just one step.
One step toward the chapel doors.
One step toward freedom.
One step toward the woman she loved.
Her heart screamed so loudly it was almost unbearable.
For one impossible second...
She imagined the wedding will stop.
She imagined running through the rain.
Finding Lingling.
Throwing herself into her arms.
Apologizing.
Begging for another chance.
Living the life they had secretly dream for each other.
But then...
Reality arrived.
Sean.
His illness.
The diagnosis that had shattered everything.
The inheritance that would secure the treatment he desperately needed.
The innocent life growing quietly inside her womb.
The child who had done nothing wrong.
The promises she had made.
The responsibilities she had willingly accepted.
The lives depending on her decision.
She wasn't carrying only her own heart anymore.
She was carrying Sean's hope.
Their unborn child's future.
The wishes of two families.
The weight of countless sacrifices.
And somehow...
Her own happiness had become the easiest thing to bury.
So she stayed.
She smiled.
She exchanged vows.
While mourning the woman she loved.
The applause erupted.
People stood.
Cheered.
Celebrated.
No one noticed that the bride's smile never reached her eyes.
No one realized that beneath the white gown...
A heart was quietly dying.
···
The wedding reception was everything people dreamed of.
Crystal lights sparkled across the ballroom.
Champagne glasses clinked together.
Music filled the air.
Guests laughed.
They danced.
They toasted to the newlyweds.
Photographers captured smiles that looked perfect from every angle.
People called it magical.
Beautiful.
A fairytale.
But Orm felt none of it.
She smiled for photographs she never wanted to remember.
She thanked guests whose voices sounded distant.
She danced because everyone expected her to.
Every congratulation felt heavier than the last.
Every "Congratulations, Mrs...." felt like another goodbye to the woman she used to be.
She had never felt so surrounded.
And yet...
She had never felt so completely alone.
···
As the night drew to a close and the last of the guests began leaving, only their closest family members remained.
The ballroom had finally grown quiet.
For the first time that day...
There was silence.
Then—
Sean suddenly staggered.
His face turned pale.
His knees buckled.
"Sean!"
He collapsed onto the floor.
The sound echoed through the room.
Panic erupted instantly.
People screamed.
Chairs scraped violently across the floor.
Family members rushed toward him.
Someone called for an ambulance.
Orm froze.
For one terrifying heartbeat...
She couldn't move.
Not because she didn't care.
But because her body had already reached its limit.
Another tragedy.
Not today...
Please...
Not today...
The ambulance arrived within minutes.
Sirens pierced the night.
The celebration ended as abruptly as it had begun.
···
Only an hour after saying their vows...
They found themselves inside another hospital room.
Still wearing their wedding clothes.
The expensive decorations had been replaced by white walls.
The orchestra had been replaced by the relentless rhythm of heart monitors.
The scent of roses had become the sterile smell of antiseptic.
Sean's chemotherapy resumed that very evening.
Doctors moved quickly around him.
Machines beeped relentlessly.
Everyone waited.
Again.
Hours passed.
One by one, family members drifted outside to give the newlyweds privacy.
Finally...
Sean's eyelids slowly fluttered open.
His vision remained blurry for several seconds.
The first thing he saw...
Was Orm.
Curled up beside his hospital bed.
Still wearing her wedding gown.
The delicate lace was wrinkled.
The hem was stained.
Her veil had long since fallen away.
Mascara streaked down her cheeks.
Her makeup had been completely ruined by tears she had tried so hard to hide all day.
Even in her sleep...
Her eyebrows remained tightly knitted.
As though heartbreak refused to let her rest.
One of her hands still held his.
She hadn't let go.
Not once.
Sean quietly broke down.
Tears slipped silently down his face.
Not because of the pain.
But because he finally understood the full weight of what she had sacrificed.
···
When Orm slowly opened her eyes...
Neither of them spoke.
The silence between them lasted for what felt like forever.
It wasn't uncomfortable.
It was simply too full of grief for words.
Finally...
Sean spoke.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"I'm sorry."
Orm slowly lifted her eyes toward him.
He looked at her with heartbreaking guilt.
"I'm really sorry, Orm..."
he repeated, his voice trembling.
"I know."
His lips quivered.
"You should've been marrying Lingling today."
The words shattered the fragile silence.
Tears rolled freely down Sean's cheeks.
"I saw the way you looked."
"I saw the way your smile disappeared every time you thought no one was watching."
"I know who was standing beside you in your heart."
"I know it wasn't me."
Orm immediately shook her head, tears spilling once more.
"Sean..."
"No."
"Please..."
"You don't have to apologize."
"I chose this."
Sean let out a weak, broken smile.
A smile filled with gratitude...
And unbearable guilt.
"No..."
he whispered.
"You didn't choose this."
"You sacrificed yourself."
"For me."
"For our child."
"For a future that wasn't even yours."
His voice cracked.
"And you gave up the person you loved most just so I could have another chance to live."
Orm could no longer stop crying.
She covered her mouth as sobs escaped through trembling fingers.
The pain she had buried for weeks finally surfaced all at once.
The silence returned.
Heavy.
Unforgiving.
Filled with everything they could never undo.
Then Sean slowly tightened his grip around her hand.
His fingers were weak.
But his promise wasn't.
"When I recover..."
he whispered.
"When all of this is over..."
"I promise..."
"I'll help you find her."
"I'll tell her everything."
"I'll explain every sacrifice you made."
"I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make this right."
"I don't know if she'll forgive us..."
His voice broke completely.
"But she deserves the truth."
"And so do you."
Orm completely broke.
The sob she had spent weeks holding back finally escaped.
Raw.
Painful.
Uncontrollable.
She cried harder than she had throughout the entire wedding day.
Not because she believed destiny would give her another chance.
Not because she believed promises could undo what had already happened.
But because...
For the first time since making the hardest decision of her life...
Someone finally saw her pain.
Someone finally understood that beneath the beautiful wedding gown...
Beneath every forced smile...
Beneath every vow she had spoken...
She had been breaking apart, piece by piece.
She reached for Sean's hand with both of hers and held it tightly.
Not out of romance.
Not out of obligation.
But because, in that heartbreaking moment...
They were no longer simply husband and wife.
They were two broken souls.
Two people who had become prisoners of circumstances neither of them had chosen.
Neither of them spoke again.
There was nothing left to say.
Outside the hospital window...
The rain continued to fall.
Steady.
Relentless.
As though even the heavens could not bear to witness the love that had been sacrificed.
As though the sky itself was mourning the future two women had once dreamed of...
A future that now existed only in memories...
And in the silent tears that neither time nor distance could ever wash away.
—
The hospital slowly became Orm's entire world.
Not by choice.
But because life had left her nowhere else to go.
Days quietly slipped into weeks.
Time no longer felt like time.
It was measured by chemotherapy sessions.
By blood test results.
By medication schedules.
By the rhythm of machines that refused to let anyone forget how fragile a human life truly was.
The white walls that surrounded her never changed.
Neither did the sharp scent of antiseptic that lingered in every hallway, every room, every breath she took.
The constant beeping of cardiac monitors became the only music she heard from morning until midnight.
The quiet footsteps of nurses making their rounds after everyone else had fallen asleep became as familiar as the sound of her own heartbeat.
The hospital had become both her prison...
...and the only place she could not bring herself to leave.
Every morning, she sat beside Sean as another cycle of chemotherapy began.
She learned how to read the expressions on the nurses' faces before they even spoke.
She learned which medicines would make him nauseous.
Which ones would make him sleep.
Which days his pain would become unbearable.
She memorized every grimace he tried to hide.
Every trembling breath he disguised with a smile.
Some afternoons, she quietly walked to the obstetrics department for her prenatal checkups.
Always alone.
Always carrying a tiny life growing inside her...
While desperately trying not to lose another.
Every evening, she returned to Sean's room wearing the same gentle smile.
The same reassuring voice.
The same calm expression.
A smile she barely recognized anymore.
Because somewhere between the endless hospital corridors...
And the unbearable silence of lonely nights...
She had forgotten what genuine happiness even looked like.
She was only in her first trimester.
But pregnancy was already taking everything she had.
Morning sickness became merciless.
There were mornings when she couldn't even keep water down.
She would vomit until her body shook violently...
Until there was nothing left in her stomach except burning acid that left her throat raw and aching.
Some afternoons, dizziness struck so suddenly that the fluorescent lights above blurred into white streaks.
She had to stop walking.
Lean her trembling body against the cold hospital walls.
Close her eyes.
Breathe.
Just breathe.
Sometimes she wondered if she would collapse right there in the hallway.
If anyone would notice before she hit the floor.
Yet...
She never complained.
Not once.
Not to Sean.
Not to the doctors.
Not to herself.
Because someone else was already fighting for his life.
She refused to make her own suffering another burden.
A few weeks into Sean's treatment...
Orm quietly resigned from her job as an architect.
The office where she had once poured years of passion into designing beautiful spaces...
The place where she had first crossed paths with Lingling.
Every hallway...
Every conference room...
Every drafting table...
Every unfinished blueprint...
Every corner still carried traces of the woman she had loved with everything she was.
It wasn't just a workplace anymore.
It had become a museum of memories.
A place where every glance reopened wounds she had spent months trying to stitch together.
She could still picture Lingling standing by the drafting table with rolled blueprints tucked beneath her arm.
Still hear her laughter echoing through the office after a successful presentation.
Still remember the warmth of stolen glances...
Shared coffee breaks...
Conversations that had once made ordinary workdays feel extraordinary.
Returning there every morning felt like reopening a book whose ending had shattered her heart.
The memories didn't comfort her anymore.
They haunted her.
Each step inside that building reminded her of everything she had lost.
Of every promise that would never be fulfilled.
Of every future that had disappeared before it even had the chance to exist.
So she walked away.
Not because she no longer loved architecture.
But because loving it meant reliving Lingling...
Over and over again.
And her heart simply couldn't survive that kind of pain every single day.
Sean noticed everything.
Far more than Orm realized.
Whenever she thought he had fallen asleep after another exhausting chemotherapy session...
He would secretly watch her.
He would see her quietly force a smile before slipping out of his room.
The moment the door clicked shut...
He would hear her footsteps grow hurried.
Then...
The unmistakable sound of violent retching from the restroom down the hallway.
Again.
And again.
And again.
His fingers would tighten around the hospital blanket.
Helpless.
Unable to get up.
Unable to hold her hair back.
Unable to rub comforting circles on her back.
Unable to tell her she didn't have to carry everything alone.
He would only hear the faucet running afterward.
Water rushing endlessly...
As though she were trying to wash away not just the taste of sickness...
But every ounce of pain she refused to let anyone see.
Then...
Silence.
A painfully long silence.
Until her voice finally broke through the quiet.
Barely above a whisper.
Fragile.
Trembling.
Almost as though she were speaking to the broken pieces of herself.
"You can do this..."
A shaky breath.
"You have to..."
Another pause.
"For Sean..."
Her voice cracked.
"...for our baby..."
And then, so softly that it almost disappeared into the sound of the running water...
"...and because somehow... I still have to keep living."
"You need to survive this so when time and fate become less cruel, you can go back to Lingling's arms."
Those words shattered Sean more than any diagnosis ever could.
When Orm finally returned to his room...
She had already washed her face.
Her swollen eyes were hidden beneath a fresh smile.
She greeted him with the same warmth.
The same gentle voice.
As though nothing had happened.
As though she hadn't just been falling apart alone behind a locked restroom door.
As though her heart hadn't been breaking into smaller pieces with every passing day.
Sean smiled back.
Pretending to believe her.
Pretending not to notice the redness around her eyes.
Pretending not to hear the exhaustion hidden beneath her cheerful tone.
Because if she was pretending to be okay for him...
Then he would pretend to believe her.
It was the only kindness he had left to offer.
And every single time she smiled like that...
It broke Sean's heart all over again.
—
One rainy afternoon, after Sean had finally fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion, Orm quietly slipped out of the hospital.
The rhythmic beeping of the monitors faded behind her as she gently closed the door, careful not to wake him.
Outside, rain poured endlessly from the gray sky, soaking the city in a veil of sorrow.
She didn't bother opening the umbrella she had brought.
Somehow, she felt like she deserved the rain.
She hailed a taxi with trembling hands.
"To Lingling's condominium... please."
Orm give the address and the driver nodded and drove away.
Throughout the ride, Orm stared blankly through the rain-speckled window.
Buildings blurred into streaks of gray.
People hurried beneath umbrellas.
The world continued moving.
Yet hers had completely stopped.
Her fingers unconsciously rested on her stomach.
Her baby.
Then they slowly curled around the wedding ring on her finger.
The ring suddenly felt unbearably heavy.
She closed her eyes.
Maybe...
Maybe Ling will finally let me explain.
Maybe if I tell her everything...
If I tell her why I chose Sean... why I disappeared... why I hurt her...
Maybe she will understand.
She wasn't asking for forgiveness anymore.
She knew she no longer deserved that.
She only wanted Lingling to know the truth.
To know that despite every terrible decision she had made...
She had never stopped loving her.
Not for a single day.
Not even for a single heartbeat.
...
When the taxi finally stopped, Orm stepped out into the pouring rain.
She barely noticed she was completely drenched as she slowly entered the familiar condominium.
Every hallway.
Every corner.
Every elevator ride.
They all carried memories.
Little pieces of a life she had once dreamed they would spend together.
By the time she reached Lingling's apartment door, her entire body was shaking.
She stared at the door for what felt like forever.
The same door she had knocked on countless times before.
The same door that had once welcomed her with laughter...
Warm hugs...
Late-night movies...
Now...
It felt like the entrance to a courtroom waiting to pronounce her sentence.
Her hand hovered in front of the door.
She couldn't do it.
Not yet.
What if Lingling refused to see her?
What if she slammed the door?
What if...
She hated her now?
Of course Lingling hated her, who wouldn't be?
Orm squeezed her eyes shut.
She inhaled shakily.
Then knocked.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Footsteps echoed from inside.
Her heartbeat pounded violently against her chest.
The lock clicked.
The door slowly opened.
Her heart instantly dropped.
It wasn't Lingling.
It was Junji.
For a brief second, surprise flashed across Junji's face.
Then it disappeared.
Replaced by something much colder.
Much sharper.
Disgust.
"What are you doing here?"
Her voice wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
The disappointment alone shattered something inside Orm.
Orm swallowed the painful lump lodged in her throat.
"Junji..."
Her voice cracked almost immediately.
"I... I need to see Ling."
Junji let out a hollow, bitter laugh.
One completely devoid of humor.
"You don't get to call her that anymore."
Every word landed like another knife being buried deeper into Orm's chest.
She lowered her head.
"...Please."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I only need five minutes."
"Five minutes, Junji..."
"I just... I need to explain everything."
Junji didn't move.
"You've done enough explaining."
"No..."
Orm shook her head desperately.
"You don't understand."
"I never got the chance."
"I have to tell her the truth."
"I have to—"
Without thinking anymore, Orm stepped past Junji and rushed inside the apartment.
"Ling!"
Her trembling voice echoed through the living room.
"Ling!"
She looked everywhere.
The couch.
The dining table.
The kitchen.
The balcony.
The guest room.
The bathroom.
Then Lingling's bedroom.
Empty.
Everything was painfully neat.
Painfully quiet.
As if no one had lived there for months.
Her breathing became ragged.
She stumbled back into the living room.
"Please..."
She looked at Junji with tears streaming endlessly down her face.
"Please tell me where Lingling is."
"I can fix this."
"I can explain everything."
"Please..."
"I just need to see her..."
Junji grabbed her arm.
"Orm! Stop!"
But Orm pulled away.
"No!"
She continued searching.
Opening doors.
Calling Lingling's name over and over.
"Ling!"
"Ling, please!"
"I'm begging you!"
"I know you're here!"
"Please don't hide from me!"
Junji reached for her again.
"Enough!"
Orm broke free once more.
"I have to find her!"
"I need to tell her—"
SLAP!
The sound echoed violently throughout the apartment.
Everything became silent.
Even the rain outside seemed to stop.
Orm slowly turned her face back.
A red mark immediately bloomed across her cheek.
Fresh tears spilled down without restraint.
She didn't lift a hand to defend herself.
She didn't look angry.
She didn't even look surprised.
She simply stood there...
Quietly crying.
Junji froze.
Her own hand trembled.
She hadn't planned to hit her.
She never wanted to.
It wasn't because she hated Orm.
It was because she loved Lingling.
Because she had watched her best friend slowly disappear.
Because she had spent countless nights holding Lingling together while Orm unknowingly shattered her piece by piece.
Seeing Orm standing there...
Begging for another chance...
Opened every wound Junji had fought so hard to help Lingling survive.
Orm lowered her head.
"I'm sorry..."
Her voice shook violently.
"I'm so sorry..."
Again.
And again.
And again.
"I'm sorry..."
Before Junji could say another word, footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Both women turned.
Fluke had just arrived.
He stopped the instant he saw Orm standing inside the apartment.
The room fell into another suffocating silence.
His eyes slowly drifted downward.
To Orm's stomach.
Then...
To the wedding ring resting on her finger.
His jaw clenched.
Understanding settled across his face.
Followed by disbelief.
Then anger.
"The audacity..."
The words came out almost as a whisper.
Orm lowered her head even further.
Tears continued falling onto the wooden floor.
Neither Junji nor Fluke looked away.
Junji finally broke.
"Do you even have the slightest idea what you've done to her?"
Her voice trembled so violently that every word sounded like it was cutting through her own throat.
"She stopped eating."
Orm's shoulders shook.
"She locked herself inside this apartment."
"She cried herself to sleep every single night."
"She wasn't even a drinker before."
Junji laughed bitterly through her tears.
"But alcohol became her only companion."
"Every."
"Single."
"Night."
"We were terrified."
"There were nights when Fluke and I thought..."
Her voice cracked completely.
"...we thought we were going to lose her."
Orm covered her mouth.
A sob escaped before she could stop it.
Each sentence crushed her harder than the last.
"I'm sorry..."
She whispered.
"So... so sorry..."
Junji shook her head.
"No."
"You listen to me very carefully, Orm."
"I should've said this a long time ago."
"But Lingling always stopped me."
She stepped closer.
Her eyes burned with years of helplessness.
"You have this terrible habit of going around in circles."
"One day..."
"You make her feel like she's the most important person in the world."
"You make her feel loved."
"You make her feel chosen."
"You make her believe that maybe..."
"Just maybe..."
"This time..."
"You'll finally stay."
Junji's voice broke.
"And then the next day..."
"You leave."
"You break her heart."
"Again."
"And again."
"And again."
Orm closed her eyes.
She couldn't breathe.
"Lingling tried so hard to move on from you."
"That's why she accepted the project in Khon Kaen."
"She practically dragged me and Fluke there because staying in Bangkok meant seeing you."
"Seeing you happy with Sean."
"And every time she saw you..."
"It destroyed her."
Junji laughed bitterly.
"But even there..."
"You found her."
"On her birthday."
"You slept with her while you were still in a relationship with Sean."
"You made Lingling your other woman."
"You gave her hope."
"You made her believe you had finally chosen her."
Her tears streamed freely now.
"And then..."
"You left the next morning."
Silence.
Heavy.
Merciless.
"Do you know what she kept asking me?"
Junji whispered.
"'What's wrong with me?'"
"'What am I lacking?'"
"'Why wasn't I enough?'"
"'Why did she leave me again?'"
"Tell me, Orm."
"What answer was I supposed to give her?"
Orm broke.
Her knees almost gave out beneath her.
Junji wasn't finished.
"Then after she finally found the courage to fight for you..."
"To chase after you..."
"To tell you she'd choose you no matter what..."
"She found out you were pregnant."
"And that you were marrying Sean."
Her eyes filled with tears all over again.
"What kind of love is that, Orm?"
"What kind of love keeps choosing everyone else..."
"But somehow still keeps Lingling waiting?"
"You didn't just break her."
"You broke every dream she ever built around you."
"When she came back from Khon Kaen..."
"She wasn't Lingling anymore."
"She was breathing..."
"But she wasn't living."
Junji wiped her tears furiously.
"You know what hurt the most?"
"We attended your wedding."
She laughed.
A broken, empty laugh.
"Fluke and I stood beside her the entire ceremony."
"Do you know what our job was?"
"To keep handing her tissues."
"Because she couldn't stop crying."
The apartment became painfully quiet.
Junji looked away.
"I'm not even the one in love with you."
"But watching her cry that day..."
She smiled sadly.
"It felt like I lost my own heart too."
"Lingling loved you so much."
"So much..."
"That she'd rather disappear from your life than become the reason you couldn't be happy."
Fluke finally spoke.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"And Orm..."
He looked directly into her tear-filled eyes.
"Sorry doesn't give those days back."
"Sorry doesn't erase those nights."
"Sorry doesn't undo what happened."
Orm nodded weakly.
"I know..."
"I know..."
She cried openly now.
"But please..."
"I need to tell her the truth."
"I need her to know..."
"I never stopped loving—"
"No."
Junji interrupted immediately.
"You've hurt her enough."
Silence swallowed the room.
Fluke remained quiet for a very long time.
His own eyes had become red.
Finally...
He spoke.
"Lingling isn't here anymore."
Orm frowned.
"...What?"
Another silence.
One far more terrifying.
"She left Thailand."
"...after your wedding."
Everything inside Orm stopped.
The color slowly drained from her face.
"...Where?"
Neither Junji nor Fluke answered.
She took one trembling step toward them.
"...Please."
"I'm begging you."
"I need to find her."
"I need to tell her."
"I need to see her just once."
Junji slowly closed her eyes.
When she opened them again...
There was only sadness.
"We can't."
"We promised her."
Orm stared at them.
For several long seconds.
Then she understood.
Not because they told her.
But because Lingling had truly wanted to disappear.
From her.
Forever.
Something inside Orm quietly broke.
The last fragile thread of hope she had been desperately holding onto finally snapped.
She nodded.
Slowly.
Weakly.
"I understand..."
She didn't.
Not really.
Every part of her wanted to scream.
To beg.
To search every corner of the world until she found Lingling.
But...
For the first time...
She chose to respect what Lingling wanted.
Even if it meant destroying herself.
Orm wiped her tears.
Then slowly bowed.
Deeply.
Longer than either Junji or Fluke had ever seen.
"I'm sorry."
Her voice barely existed anymore.
"I know those words will never be enough."
"They'll never heal what I broke."
"They'll never give her back the years I stole."
She inhaled shakily.
"If..."
"If you ever see her again..."
Her lips trembled uncontrollably.
"Please tell her..."
A sob escaped.
She could no longer stop it.
"...that I never stopped loving her."
"Not once."
"Not even when I walked away."
Then she turned around.
She quietly walked toward the door.
No one stopped her.
No one called her name.
The apartment door slowly closed behind her.
Junji leaned against the wall and silently cried.
Fluke removed his glasses and covered his eyes.
Neither of them noticed...
That Orm cried the entire elevator ride down.
Neither of them noticed...
That she wandered aimlessly through the rain for nearly an hour before finding another taxi.
Neither of them noticed...
That inside that taxi, she buried her face into her trembling hands and cried so hard she could barely breathe.
And neither of them noticed...
That she never once wiped away her tears.
She simply let them fall.
All the way back...
To the hospital.