(No longer in love) Chapter 18: A New Chapter
Years later, Gu Yuan and I took our daughter to college. Fate had brought her to the city where we’d once lived. It was my first return in years.
After dropping off our daughter at school, Gu Yuan said that since we were already here, we might as well take a walk and considered it a mini–tour.
Near a food court, I ran into a familiar face.
She was Katie.
Katie was entangled with a man, screaming and crying on the ground after being pushed down by
Her son, a young man in his twenties, played games, oblivious to the drama unfolding.
Katie turned on her son, unleashing her fury.
“You useless child! You’re just sitting there! You’re parading around as a Thorne, trying to get the old woman to adopt you! You’re worse than me! Your father, the scumbag, ran off with the money. Stop pretending you belong to the Thorns!”
The boy retaliated, pushing her to the ground and storming off, muttering curses. The other vendors paid no attention. Nobody helped her.
One approached me.
“That boy keeps claiming he’s a Thorne, showing up at the Thorne estate, causing trouble. They can’t get rid of him. He dreams of things he’ll never have.”
Gu Yuan returned
“Millie, what’s wrong?”
with chestnuts for me, his brow furrowed in concern.
I withdrew my gaze, taking a chestnut from him.“Nothing. Where should we go next?” Hand in hand, we walked towards the sun, towards the future, towards our enduring happiness. Lucian’s Epilogue:
Against his doctor’s advice, Lucian sought a final meeting with Millie. He wasn’t a good man. Alex’s wrongful imprisonment… Katie, his ex–girlfriend, his past actions deserved consequences. He loved Millie, not Alex. But he hadn’t anticipated Millie choosing her brother over him. If he’d known her bond with Alex, Katie would have been insignificant. Lucian had never apologized before. But he needed to, to justify seeing her again. He wanted to confess his impending death, to plead for her return, confident in her compassion. But seeing her with Gu Yuan, the happiness in their eyes mirroring his own past with Millie… he changed his mind. She was happy. And he couldn’t destroy that.
He didn’t tell her he was dying. His final blessing was genuine, tinged with selfishness. He wondered if she would feel a pang of regret upon hearing of his passing. He believed she would.
On Millie’s wedding day, he asked Alex to film a video for him. Alex, like Millie, was compassionate. Lucian watched Millie’s happiness.
She would be happy.
Always.
He smiled as he died.
The End
Every turn of the page is a new beginning
I look forward to meeting you again in the next story!
