The Day My Slow Brain Finally Felt Heartbreak Chapter 13
An absolute, suffocating silence fell over the flower shop.
The only sounds left were Nathan’s pathetic whimpering and Joy’s defeated, broken sobbing on the floor.
David and I didn’t spare them another second of our time.
Turning around, we held hands and walked straight into the private back room of the shop.
The moment the door closed, David wrapped his arms around me from behind, pulling me flush against his
chest.
He rested his chin against the crook of my neck.
His voice was low and husky, gentle beyond words.
“Did they scare you?”
I shook my head.
Turning around in his embrace, I wrapped my arms around his lean waist. “Not at all.”
“As long as you’re with me, I’m not afraid of anything.”
“I’m sorry.” David tightened his grip, crushing me against his chest as if trying to merge me into his very
bones.
His voice was thick with self-reproach and a lingering terror.
“I shouldn’t have left you alone in the shop. If I had come back earlier, you wouldn’t have had to face those
disgusting people.”
“It’s not your fault at all,” I murmured, looking up and reaching out to smooth the deep furrow between his
brows.
I looked into his eyes with absolute sincerity.
“Some ghosts have to be faced eventually. If I didn’t cut ties with the past myself, how could I deserve someone as wonderful as you?”
“It’s fine now. It’s completely over.”
David’s gaze darkened with intense emotion.
He leaned down, pressing a deeply reverent, heavy kiss against my forehead.
“Yeah. It’s over.”
“From now on, nobody will ever disturb our peace again.”
We stood silently in each other’s arms in the back room for a long time.
We waited until the muffled crying outside completely vanished.
When we finally walked back out, the entrance of the flower shop was entirely deserted.
Only a few scattered tear stains remained on the floor, along with several dry yellow strands of hair Joy had pulled loose while struggling.
They were the only proof that the earlier scene had really happened.
I walked over to the floor-to-ceiling glass window.
David walked up behind me, looping his arms around my waist and pulling me back against him.
Together, we quietly stared at the street view outside.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Just the past,” I whispered, leaning my head back against his steady shoulder.
“I used to think my life was just an endless, suffocating stretch of darkness. I believed spring would never
come for me.”
“Because I was too stupid, too slow.”
“Until you showed up.”
David let out a soft, low chuckle.
His warm breath fanned across my ear, sending a pleasant tickle down my neck.
“Silly girl.”
“I told you when I was seven years old-I would come back for you, and I would cure your delay.”
“David Harrison always keeps his word.”
I turned around in his arms, pushing up onto my tiptoes.
I pressed a soft, gentle kiss against his lips.
“Thank you, Mr. Harrison.”
“Thank you for never giving up on me, and thank you for giving me my long-awaited spring.”
David’s gaze darkened instantly.
He cupped the back of my head, slamming his lips down to deepen the kiss completely.
The sun was perfect, and the breeze was sweet.
Later on, I heard from some mutual acquaintances back home.
After that day, Nathan and Joy returned to the States together.
But they never got back together.
Nathan became a completely hollowed-out ghost of a man.
Word was he fished that cheap, blood-stained silver promise ring out of the trash and forced it back onto his
finger.
Because his finger had grown, the metal band eventually choked the circulation, embedding itself deeply into
his swollen flesh.
The doctors begged him to let them cut it off.
But he refused with absolute hysteria, willingly enduring the excruciating, constant agony.
It seemed as if that piercing pain was the only way he could feel closer to the Valerie he had destroyed.
As for Joy.
She packed up and disappeared into a remote, forgotten rural town.
Nobody ever heard from her again.
A year later, David and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world.
My developmental delay had completely vanished without a trace.
I learned to converse fluently and confidently with my customers, and my hands became fast and precise
when wrapping bouquets.
J
I learned how to love myself, and I learned how to love David Harrison with every single shred of my soul.
Sometimes, the most devastating, agonizing losses in life aren’t tragedies at all. They are a twisted form of
divine luck.
Because a delayed spring.
Can still bloom into the most brilliant flowers.
