- 16.
Everything was over.
I asked the system softly, “It’s done, right?”
“Not yet.”
The system’s response was unexpected:
“Let me take you back. Ten years ago, before you accepted the task to pursue Tristan Wilder…”
The system’s cold voice echoed in my mind.
Before I could respond, a blinding light flashed in front of my eyes, making me dizzy.
When I opened my eyes again, I found my soul hovering outside the window of an ICU room.
Inside, a much younger Cole Hawthorne sat slumped in a chair by the hospital bed, his face drawn and weary. In his hand, he held a photo.
It was a picture of the two of us, me and Cole, when we were teenagers.
C
We were standing together, arms around each other, smiling widely with the vast ocean stretching out behind us.
What?
When did Cole and I take a picture like that?
Had we known each other back then, all those years ago?
My gaze shifted past Cole and landed on the figure lying in the hospital bed.
It was me.
A much younger version of me.
Suddenly, everything came flooding back, as if a movie reel of my past began to play before
Do you remember now?” the system’s voice asked.
“Do you remember why Cole knew your name the first time he saw you?”
“Do you remember why his love for you always felt so deep, so unexplainable?”
ore my eyes.
I remembered now.
Cole and I had grown up together.
When we were kids, he had once pointed to the dazzling “Butterfly Kiss diamond ring in a store window and promised that one day, when he married me, he would buy me a ring just like it
rold in each other’s arms.
We were supposed to end up together–get married, start a family grow o
But when I was seventeen, I was in a terrible car accident and fell into a coma.
ing that coma that I accepted the system’s mission to pursue Tristan Wilder.
It was during
When I woke up, I had forgotten everything from my past.
I forgot Cole, forgot the promise of the “Butterfly Kiss” ring, and all that remained was my obsessive mission to pursue Tristan.
But Cole… he never forgot.
He pretended not to know me, quietly staying by my side, watching over me as I hurt myself for Tristan.
Watching me suffer, watching me cry my heart out at Gull Cove…
Then finally, avenging me.
“Lana, please, open your eyes and look at me… Cole’s tear–filled voice broke through my thoughts, as he sat beside my unconscious body in the hospital room. “Your eyes are so beautiful… I just want to see them one more time…..
Even in my soul form, it felt like my heart was shattering into a million pieces.
My spirit transformed into a delicate butterfly, landing gently on Cole’s finger, fluttering in front of him in a silent dance.
“Lana Brooks.”
The system’s voice came again.
“It’s time for a new mission.”
The system’s voice came again.
“It’s time for a new mission.”
Target: Cole Hawthorne.”
I opened my eyes.
There in front of me, my vision was filled with Cole–my Cole.
Maybe everything had gone wrong before.
But it didn’t matter now. This time, we would be together, truly together.
Two butterflies danced outside the window, soaring higher and higher..
This time, I had finally found my soulmate.
