Chapter 39 #4
Even if she had to watch her walk away again.
Orm could live with that.
Because this time, she didn't want to spend the rest of her life wondering what if?
And if, by some impossible miracle, fate finally decided that this was their time...
Then she would not run.
She would reach for it.
Just once.
She would be brave enough to reach for her.
-
Around the same time, Sean returned from Japan to celebrate Liam's birthday.
Orm noticed the difference immediately.
He looked healthier.
Lighter.
Peaceful.
There was something in his eyes that hadn't been there years ago.
A quiet happiness.
The kind that didn't need to prove itself.
Before they left the airport for Phuket, Sean gently squeezed Orm's shoulder.
"I've spent years keeping a promise."
Orm looked at him.
He smiled.
"If fate gives me the chance..."
His smile widened.
"I'll finally help the two of you talk."
Orm laughed weakly.
"I don't even know if she'll look at me."
Sean looked at her with quiet certainty.
"I think she never stopped."
Orm's breath caught.
"You don't know that."
"I do. I can feel it."
He paused.
"You'll see."
Phuket greeted them with sunlight, warm sand, and the endless sound of waves crashing against the shore.
For a while, Orm almost forgot why she had come.
Liam was happy.
He ran along the beach with the reckless energy only a four-year-old could possess.
Orm watched him from a distance, laughing as he chased birds, collected seashells, and declared every tiny creature he found to be his new best friend.
She smiled.
For a few precious minutes, everything felt normal.
Until Liam spotted something near the rocks.
A tiny frog.
"Mommy!"
Orm looked up.
"Don't go too far!"
But Liam was already running.
"I'w catch it!"
"Liam!"
Orm laughed and followed.
Then she looked away for only a moment.
Only a moment.
She turned back.
He was gone.
Her smile disappeared.
"Liam?"
Nothing.
She walked faster.
"Liam!"
Her voice trembled.
She checked near the rocks.
Behind the umbrellas.
Near the little paths leading away from the shore.
Nothing.
Her heart began pounding violently.
"Liam!"
Panic swallowed her whole.
Every nightmare a mother could imagine rushed through her mind.
What if someone took him?
What if he drowned?
What if-
"No."
Orm forced herself to breathe.
She kept searching.
Her feet moved faster.
Her voice grew desperate.
"Liam!"
Then-
She saw him.
Her son.
Safe.
Standing beside someone.
Orm stopped.
Her entire body went still.
Because the woman beside Liam...
Was Lingling.
For one impossible second, the entire world disappeared.
The voices around her faded.
The laughter of children vanished.
The sound of the ocean became distant.
There was only her.
Lingling.
Four years.
Four years of missing her.
Four years of loving her quietly.
Four years of waking up and reminding herself that some doors were never meant to reopen.
And there she was.
Standing beneath the afternoon sun.
Kneeling down to Liam's height.
Holding his tiny hand.
Speaking to him patiently.
Making sure he wasn't frightened.
Lingling smiled at him.
A real smile.
The same smile Orm remembered.
The same smile that once made her believe that home could be a person.
The sunlight caught in Lingling's hair.
The sea breeze moved the loose strands framing her face.
She looked older.
Not in a way that made her less beautiful.
In a way that made her look softer.
Wiser.
Like someone who had lived through her own storms.
Orm couldn't breathe.
Her eyes burned.
Then Liam looked up.
"Mommy Winging hewped me."
Lingling smiled.
"Your little explorer wandered too far."
Orm stared at her.
Neither woman spoke.
Their eyes met.
And suddenly, four years collapsed into four seconds.
Orm remembered everything.
Their first meeting.
Their laughter.
Their arguments.
The nights they whispered about the future.
The promises.
The dreams.
The heartbreak.
The goodbye.
Everything came rushing back so violently that Orm almost felt like she was that younger version of herself again.
The girl who had loved Lingling without knowing how much it would cost.
But then she looked at Liam.
Her son.
Standing safely beside the woman she had once imagined raising a family with.
And something inside Orm broke.
Not from pain.
From the unbearable beauty of the moment.
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
She didn't wipe them away.
She simply stood there.
Watching.
Because for one impossible moment...
She could see the life she had dreamed about years ago.
Lingling protecting Liam.
Lingling holding his tiny hand.
Lingling kneeling beside him.
Lingling looking at her child with tenderness.
It was a picture of a life that had never existed.
A life that could have been.
If life had been kinder.
If timing had been gentler.
If love had arrived without tragedy.
If they had known how to save each other instead of losing each other.
Orm pressed a trembling hand against her chest.
Her heart hurt.
God, it hurt.
But beneath the pain was something else.
Something warm.
Something she thought had died four years ago.
Hope.
Small.
Fragile.
Terrifying.
But alive.
And in that moment, Orm quietly thanked God.
Not only because Liam was safe.
Not only because her son had been found.
But because the first arms that had protected her child...
Were the same arms she had spent four years secretly wishing would one day protect her heart again.
And as Lingling slowly looked up and their eyes met across the sand...
Orm realized something.
Maybe fate had never forgotten them.
Maybe it had simply been waiting.
Waiting until they were finally strong enough to find their way back.
And for the first time in four years...
Orm didn't pray for the past to return.
She simply whispered through her tears-
"If this is our second chance..."
"Please, God..."
"Let us be brave enough to take it."
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Hello, my loves.
I'm finally back. ??
After being away from this story for quite some time, I finally found my way back to it-and honestly, it feels a little emotional to be sitting down again and writing these characters.