He Had a Secret Wedding, I Had a Final Goodbye Chapter 07
After a full year of treatment overseas, Mia was finally stable.
She still needed rehabilitation, and her walking wasn’t completely back to normal, but at least she
no longer startled awake throughout the night or started shaking whenever she heard certain
names.
At one follow-up appointment, the doctor closed Mia’s chart and said, “She’ll keep getting
stronger, physically and emotionally.”
I let out a long breath.
I had spent nearly the entire year on edge.
The night before every follow-up, I slept badly. If I woke up in the middle of the night, I checked on Mia-whether she was breathing normally, whether her forehead felt warm, whether she had
taken her medication on time.
Later, when she could gradually do more on her own, I started picking up remote work.
The money wasn’t great, but at least we no longer had to live entirely off what was left from selling
the old house.
Whenever things slowed down, I sometimes thought about the past.
Every now and then, I wondered how I could have been so foolish back then.
But the thought would come and go.
When you’re trapped inside something, it’s hard to see it clearly.
Getting out was hard enough.
And I hadn’t gotten out alone.
I had brought Mia with me.
That alone was enough to keep me going.
That was also the year I started watching for job opportunities back home.
I couldn’t stop at simply getting away.
I had to build a life again-work, a place to live, whatever came next–one piece at a time.
I updated my résumé and started sending it out.
Not long afterward, I received a message from Julian Mercer.
We had worked together before. We weren’t particularly close, but he had helped me when I was at
lowest.
At the height of the online pile-on, I had once been standing in the rain waiting for a ride when he
handed me his unbrella without asking a single question.
Before I went overseas, all he had said was, “If you ever need anything, call me.”
This time, he sent me a photo.
It showed a new office with several empty desks and two newly delivered plants by the window.
Julian: [When you come back, would you like to talk?]
I stared at the photo for a long time.
A little while later, another message came through.
Julian: [No rush.]
Julian: [I just want you to know that when you come back, you won’t have to start from scratch.]
I looked at the screen for a few seconds before replying.
Me: [Thank you.]
His reply came almost immediately.
Julian replied: [Of course.]
When Mia found out, she hugged a throw pillow to her chest and stared at me for so long that I started laughing.
“What?”
She thought about it seriously.
“Leah, this Julian guy sounds normal.”
I almost laughed out loud.
“Is that really where the bar is now?”
She shrugged.
“That’s because the guys we knew before barely qualified as human.”
I tapped her lightly on the forehead.
“Don’t worry.”
“This time, I’m putting myself first.”
