No More Waiting, She Chooses Love

They say men don't easily shed tears.

Especially in front of women.

But there I was, witnessing Grant's eyes turn red before me, then tears cascading down his cheeks.

I didn't try to console him. Instead, I left his office, giving him space to mourn his bond with Ernest.

Grant had told me the company was Ernest's idea, but Grant was the one running it. That alone spoke volumes about their friendship; Ernest trusted him enough to leave everything in his hands. But now Ernest was gone, leaving Grant waiting for a return that would never happen.

That pain must be no less than mine in losing Ernest!

I left Grant's office for Ernest's lab. He was in R&D, always testing his own theories, so his office was filled with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos. Despite the chaos, it was an organized chaos. Looking at those tools, the experiment logbooks on his desk with data and his strong, confident handwriting, my heart twisted in pain.

Everything about Ernest reminded me of him, yet he was out of reach, a feeling only those who've lost can understand.

Eventually, I sat at Ernest's desk, opening his drawer. His pen, flash drive, notebooks, Bluetooth earpiece...

there, a clear box containing

it to find a bracelet, its material unlike anything commercially available, lacking

of paper with the bracelet's design, including the clasp and a pendant. The pendant was

it to me, but he

bell served

be wouldn't have made

bracelet otherwise.

shook the bell, its sound clear and sweet. I started

finished it before his

let this bracelet remain hidden in a box. It was Ernest's gift to me; I

no clasp, I figured I'd make one myself, just like

attaching the bracelet with a red

bell tinkled with every movement of

from Ernest's things?" Grant

seen Ernest working on