Yet now? She knew I couldn’t swim, knew I had claustrophobia and knew how close I came to dying, but still, she chose to save him first.
A bitter smile tugged at my lips. Yet, beneath the surface, the pain began to ease, replaced by a strange, quiet calm. The turmoil in my heart subsided. It made me able to look at them without flinching.
Finally, Auntie noticed me. Her expression frosted over as she stood to shut the door in my face.
I stepped forward and stopped her.
“Auntie,” I said softly, “whatever happened, I just want to say to you that tomorrow, for your birthday, I’ll be at home waiting for you. Consider it my last request. Can you grant me this?”
Auntie hesitated for a moment. When she looked at my pleading expression, she finally nodded. Then, she closed the door, shutting me out.
The doctor soon came by to assure me that I was fine, I just inhaled a bit of water.
After saying goodbye to Harry, I headed out to buy groceries, determined to make Auntie a proper birthday meal. I even started preparing the ingredients for her birthday cake.
Yet, Auntie did not come home that night. Even when the clock struck at midnight, marking the time of her birthday, she still did not come home.
I told myself she must have been delayed by something important. Yet deep down, I knew better. Auntie had never let anything else come before spending time with me on her birthday.
I stayed up until dawn and prepared a bowl of longevity noodles for breakfast, yet she did not come home.
I waited for her until lunchtime and started to bake a cake for her but she still did not show up.
When the cake was done and dinner prepared, the house remained empty. Only silence and loneliness kept me company.
From dusk to dawn, in the darkness, I looked at the lonely window. Then I realized that I could not wait for her anymore.
When I glanced at the TV from the corner of my eyes, there she was, standing with that man who was from the Lombart Family. In the TV, they were standing in front of an exhibition hall, arm in arm, holding up a piece of art together.
However, the more I looked at that work, the more familiar it looked and the more I was shocked. Wasn't this the birthday present I was going to give Auntie?