No More Waiting, She Chooses Love

Chapter 622

I brought Ernest back home, to our homeland.

On an evening as the sun was setting, I buried him in the place we'd planned to grow old together.

After burying Ernest, I didn't immediately leave. Instead, I stayed by his side for thirty-five days, a time our culture refers to as the mourning period.

As a child, I remember my mother once saying that the souls of the departed don't vanish right away. They linger, staying close to their loved ones for a while. Though I wasn't sure if it was true, I chose to believe it. I couldn't bear the thought of Ernest's soul being all alone. So, I stayed, waiting until his soul had moved on before I could bring myself to leave.

During those days, I turned off my phone and lived a simple life, much like Susie Collins used to. I read books, picked flowers to make sun tea, and painted. My subject was always Ernest, reminiscent of how Dustin once filled a room with portraits of me. I often spoke to Ernest, especially at dawn and dusk.

"Ernest, could you visit me in my dreams tonight to finish the conversations we never had?"

"Ernest, I miss you so much. I wish I could hug you, but all I feel is this hollow ache, making me want to join you in another world."

"Ernest, today I found a little bird. It seems lost without its mother. I'm going to try and feed it, maybe help it grow?"

"Ernest..." I talked incessantly, though I never got a response.

Sometimes, when I was beside him, the breeze brushing against my

on the final day of the mourning period, I brought fresh flowers

me to go, to get back to work and live a normal life. To face everyone I

tangling a

Over the past month, I hadn't

the longing

became unbearable. Conteer

hair from my face, "Ernest, is that you? You're

seemed

night and dreamt of Ernest. He came in, calling my name, "Licia...

woke and embraced him tightly, "Ernest, you finally came to see

his hand through

stay here

for both

Go

all his words. I just held him until the sunlight stung my

found myself alone, clutching Ernest's

was all a dream,