Bye-Bye Jerk, Hello Mr. Right by Rosie Steppe

Chapter 618

1 brought Hayden back to Kahmark

One evening as the sun melted into the horizon,

of growing old together

I

But I couldn't leave not yet I stayed, keeping him company, pretending he was still there

When I was a kid, I overheard my mom talking about how a person's sou dont just vanish after they

I die. She said it lingers for a while, staying close to the people it loved-especially for the first the something days

I didn't know if it was true, but I clung to the thought. I didn't want Hayden's soul to feel alone so stayed Watched over him until I felt like he was truly gone. Only then did I let myself think about leaving During those days, I cut myself off from the world. My phone stayed off I lived like Yuna used to-reading books, picking wildflowers, brewing tea from petals, and painting

I painted Hayden, again and again. Every stroke reminded me of the portraits Wayne had made of me hidden in that house.

Moming and night, I talked to Hayden like he could still hear me

in my dreams tonight, okay? Say the stuff you

so much. I keep wanting to hold you, but you're just gone. It hurts so bad sometimes, I wonder if I should follow you, just to make it stop." "Hayden, I found this little bird today. It was all alone. I tried to

"Hayden..."

everything I needed to, hoping for an

sometimes, it felt like there was a

would brush

only by the quiet rhythm of sunrises and sunsets. On the

it? Is today the last

but I kept going. "I'll be leaving soon, too. I'll go back to work, back to normal life. And.... I'll face the people I need

spoke, a soft breeze passed by, lifting a strand of my hair and brushing it across my face. It even

spilled over before I could stop them. In the month since Hayden's death, I'd barely cried. Only in those quiet, unbearable moments when I missed him so much it felt like my chest

of hair. "Hayden... is that you? You're here, aren't

ready and gente

I stayed longer, unwilling to leave When ally

creaked open and his voice, soft and steady called out

The moment save him, I

him,

hair. "Don't stay here alone

-

held onto him like I'd never be the sunlight pierced through my eyelids and dragged