Page 142 of I Replaced His Husband
Staring at the dark garden, beyond which the ocean could be seen down the hill, my thoughts drifted back to the night of the attack, the terror, the helplessness. Life was just unyieldingly unfolding. I recalled my attempt to save us by making the Stun Sound, and then the sound of gunshots.
What if those shots hadn't been fired?
Would Rain have been able to get up? Would his fighting instinct have overcome his paralysis? Could he have defeated them? Or would I have managed to make another Stun Sound, a stronger one? I would never know. The chance to know the answer was taken from us the moment the shots were fired.
Surely, life was one big, unpredictable battleground.
Whether I was scared or not, things would happen, events would unfold. Maybe I could even save myself all that nervousness, that anxious preparation for things I couldn't actually prevent.
Strangely, I felt almost no stress about what had happened. I think Rain, Adam, and Marco were even more affected than I was.
I rested my fingers on the glass and closed my eyes.
And then something Detective Moor said rang a bell.
Unexpectedly, a conversation from many years ago surfaced in my mind, a conversation I had with one person, full of emotion. I remembered a few sentences I had said with great conviction, boastful and even a little arrogant.
And just like that, something clicked inside me.
Two puzzle pieces fell into place, and Iunderstood something incredible:the realization of what had really happened in my life.
My words, born out of insecurity all those years ago, had enormous consequences, catapulting my life onto an unexpected path. My heart pounded as I connected the dots, and everything became clear. I took a deep breath.
Now I knew. I had solved the puzzle!
Ghosts, I was surrounded by ghosts.
But they would remain ghosts forever.
My Gosh, the discovery almost overwhelmed me. I pressed my forehead to the window and sobbed for a while.
My life went exactly asI had chosen it.
Me.
Clean cut.
It was the ‘Clean Cut’ thing I asked him for…
RAIN
The room was filled with fresh air from the ocean. I woke up feeling more rested than I had in a long time, completely relaxed. Sunlight fell softly across my face, filling the room with a pastel, peach-colored glow.
I looked up at the ceiling where streaks of golden light danced lazily, and then slowly turned my head to the side.
Visible through the gently billowing sheer curtain, Kay was sitting on the balcony, gazing at the horizon, the wind gently stirring the long black strands of his hair.
The view was so peaceful and soothing, yet so beautiful, that I took a moment to admire his fine profile against the backdrop of the blue sky and the ocean on the horizon.
Then something else caught my attention, something much closer.
I was… inside a nest!
Kay had built it in the middle of the night. But what a nest it was… I had never seen anything like it before, tall, solid, beautifully and intricately woven with an unexpected sense ofartistry that must have come straight from Kay’s soul, something his previous nests had never revealed.
It was made almost halfway out of my own things, which left me speechless.
That was new… that many of my things?
