I put the cake he brought and my little cake together on the table, then turned to ask him.
“Why didn’t you come find me at the shop?”
He rubbed his frozen hands and answered with a wry smile: “I was afraid you wouldn’t bring me here.”
I laughed too.
Quite the ambush he’d set up.
When blowing out the candles, I made a wish for everyone around me to be safe and healthy.
Just before we started eating the cake, there was a sudden knock at the door.
I was surprised.
“Who could it be at this hour?”
But Sean Parker seemed to know what was going on. He calmly went to open the door.
I looked towards the entrance – oh, it was a delivery driver
Sean Parker mysteriously opened the package and pushed it in front of me like he was presenting a surprise.
“Moutai ice cream. Happy birthday, Thea Brown.”!!
He still remembered?
That summer after college graduation, Sean Parker and I were window shopping when we happened to see an ad for this.
We heard Moutai ice cream was expensive and special, but we couldn’t afford it then. We could only wish that we’d be able to properly try it on our birthdays someday.
Who would have thought it would take six years.
I was halfway through eating when I remembered Sean Parker. I handed him a new spoon.
“Aren’t you going to have any?”
He shook his head, his gaze drifting to the window.
I had a feeling he was hiding something today, but I kept waiting for him to open up..
“Thea, I’m leaving the country for work tomorrow. I might settle down there and never come back.”
So that was it.
I was silent for a moment, then smiled and replied: “That’s great.”
In the end, he was the one who would go abroad to live a good life.
Twenty minutes after seeing Sean Parker off, I heard some commotion in the stairwell.
When I opened the door, I came face to face with Sean Parker’s sheepish grin.
In the darkness, he was standing on a ladder, holding a new light bulb.
He hadn’t left? Or had he left and come back?
He calmly explained to me: “The emergency light in the stairwell was broken. I borrowed some tools from the convenience store outside and thought I’d change it real quick.”
His voice sounded especially nice echoing in the empty hallway, like a gently flowing spring.
6:35 PM d
<
I stared at him, unable to look away.
Seconds later, the light came on, instantly illuminating his face.
He turned and flashed me a bright smile.
“Thea Brown, I’m leaving. Take care of yourself.”
“Alright, Sean Parker. Have a safe trip.”
10 Epilogue (Sean Parker’s perspective)
The moment I learned Thea Brown had disappeared for five years to serve time in prison, I felt like I was about to shatter.
How long must she have tortured herself to be able to say those words so casually?
I couldn’t imagine how she felt at the time, but I just wanted to slap Sophie hard, and myself too.
I had warned Sophie not to bother Thea Brown again, but she didn’t listen.
So all I could do was follow through on what I said before.
I said I wouldn’t let her off.
But she’s a woman – what more could I do besides slap her?
So I could only go after her father and brothers.
What did they care about most? That’s what I had to take away.
Later, the day I was finally honest with Thea Brown was the most devastating day of my life.
Even when I misunderstood that she had abandoned me, I had never felt such pain.
It turns out that more unbearable than her leaving me was knowing she had suffered so much.
Those words of hers were like needles stabbing into my heart. I still haven’t fully come to terms with it.
I hated myself. Why wasn’t I the first to uncover this secret?
Why was Sophie able to easily discover what I had to wait for Thea Brown to tell me herself?
Perhaps this is my fate.
The day I went to celebrate her birthday, I secretly put something in her bathroom drawer while pretending to check the plumbing.
It was a custom ring I had made when I earned my first big paycheck.
It was also the birthday gift I truly wanted to give her.
I suddenly realized that even in those years when I didn’t know the truth and hated her, I still could never stop loving her.
When she asked if I wanted some ice cream, I actually did want some.
In another version, I would have shared that bowl of ice cream with her, and later schemed to share the same bed.
But I couldn’t eat it.
To be precise, there were many things I couldn’t eat anymore.
Two weeks ago, I went to the hospital feeling unwell and was diagnosed with late–stage stomach cancer,
In that moment, I suddenly understood how Thea Brown felt back then, and I understood her choice.
In that moment, I suddenly understood how Thea Brown felt back then, and I understood her choice.
If I hadn’t gotten sick, I would never have given up on her for my entire life.
But now, I could only make the same decision she did back then.
The emergency light in the stairwell was broken. Fixing it was the last thing I could do for her.
(The End)
