I believed she would have rushed in without hesitation to save me.
But I didn’t dare take that risk.
She was still young.
She still had a bright future ahead.
She had already given me the happiest twenty years of my life.
She had already sacrificed everything for me.
I couldn’t be so selfish as to let her die for my sake.
So, at the edge of life and death,
I chose Grace.
With my last bit of strength, I shouted at her,
“Grace, don’t come looking for me.”
“I’ve… fallen in love with someone else.”
There was a three-second silence outside the door, followed by even fiercer pounding.
“I don’t believe it! I don’t believe you!”
“You’re still angry about that, aren’t you?”
“Samuel, open the door! Let me explain!”
“I was just angry that day. I never wanted to break up with you!”
“I’m sorry. Open the door! Open it and let me in, please!”
The security camera showed Grace’s face.
Her nose was red from the cold, and the tears on her lashes had frozen.
Yet she stood stubbornly before my door.
It was minus twenty degrees Celsius, the wind cutting like knives.
A winter night in Harrington.
Cold enough to freeze a person to death.
Cold enough to freeze even the warmest heart.
Still, she stood there.
Not taking a single step back.
Until dawn came and snow turned her hair white.
Until Zachary arrived and pulled her into his arms.
He kissed her tear-stained face, warming her frozen heart.
Holding her hands, he kept repeating,
“It’s okay, Grace. It’s okay. You still have me.”
“Actually, I knew about Samuel’s affair long ago. I was afraid of hurting you, so I never said anything.”
“Let’s go home. Let’s go home, okay?”
“I’ll stay with you, help you get through this, help you forget Samuel.”
In Zachary’s embrace, Grace slowly lifted her head.
She looked in my direction one last time.
Then she smashed the cake in her hands against my door.
She swore she would never see me again.
She cursed me, wishing I would live forever in regret and pain.
I said nothing more, only stared at the screen as she faded into the distance.
She and Zachary leaned on each other, walking toward the rising sun.
While I was left behind in that cold, endless night.
Not long after, Grace and Zachary got married.
They fell in love naturally and stayed together for life.
They became a model couple in their circle.
I was dismembered by a murderer, my body dumped in the wild.
I became a lonely ghost in the back mountains.
The memory ended, and I was about to sigh.
Suddenly, a hurried shout came from behind me.
“Captain Whitman, the body has been found!”
“All the features match the post. It’s been sent to forensics. Should we arrest the poster now?”
