Who's Crying Now, Ex-Husband?

Chapter 316

A gentle rain fell, misting the air as red maple leaves drifted to the ground.

Beneath the shelter of a white umbrella, Mila tilted her head, her eyes searching the man before her. Forrest's handsome features blurred through the curtain of drizzle, yet somehow, he seemed more vivid than ever.

Tears slipped down her cheeks.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say so much, but all that came out was a broken sob. Her chest ached with tangled emotions-pain, longing, humiliation— swelling inside her until she could barely breathe.

After a long pause, she managed just one sentence, her voice barely above a whisper, as if it took every ounce of strength she had left.

She said, "Forrest, it hurts so much."

It was the raw truth, stripped of pretense. She stood before the one person who'd seen her at her lowest-there was no point in hiding anything.

Forrest's eyes filled with sudden warmth and pain.

Unable to hold back any longer, he crouched down and wrapped his arms around her-around this rain-soaked, trembling girl, shivering from cold and exhaustion. He gently rubbed her back, silent but comforting.

They held each other in the rain.

Neither spoke.

in that embrace, Mila found a comfort deeper than words. The tension in her limbs began to ease, as if new life

the institute, in the

hot shower, Mila changed into fresh white clothes and sat quietly in a chair, towel in

"Forrest?" she ventured.

smiled kindly. "Just call me Forrest, or even 'brother' if you'd like. That's what you always

a mug of warm milk, then-almost automatically-took the

Mila pulled away. “I—I can manage,

he handed her a hairdryer. "Dry your hair,

did as he

was halfway dry, she took a cautious sip of milk. Warmth

run their course, embarrassment crept in. She hesitated, then-partly out of curiosity from long ago-asked, "Why did you suddenly disappear back then? I... I

sent me back to Kingsford. It all happened so quickly, I never got the chance to

the one who

"That's on me. I never told

my parents had just divorced. They left me with my grandmother and wanted nothing to do with me. I couldn't accept my family or my name. That's why I

Forrest had always stayed silent, so

that was the