Episode 3

✧ Cristian Walker ✧

I couldn't forget the past. And seeing her right there, a few meters away from me, only reinforced the feelings I had tried to suffocate all these years. The kind of feeling that doesn't die. It just transforms into something harder.

I was angry at her, yes. And I won't deny it.

It's painful when everyone knows you're getting married the next day. When everything is organized for the party, when the guests are already in town, and suddenly the bride… disappears.

Without warning, without explanation. She just leaves a note on the dresser as if she were leaving the summer house and not someone's life.

"Take care"

Those words haunted me for a long time.

As if it were easy. As if she hadn't torn my heart out with her own hands.

The pain worsened over time.

Especially when I had to deal with my father's illness. The same week she left me was the week the old man got worse. I had to swallow my suffering and take care of everything alone. After he passed, I buried not only my father—but everything I once was.

I used the pain as fuel. I closed myself off. I became the man the region knows today.

Not the same as before.

Harder.

Colder.

More… bitter.

I closed my eyes for a second, clenched my teeth, and shook my head, trying to keep the thoughts away. But it was useless.

Seeing Laura again, with that face marked by longing—even if she pretended everything was fine—was like opening a poorly healed wound.

And then, even with all the pride, all the anger, all the "whatever" I claimed to feel… I went to her, just like that, automatically.

I knew she was staying in a simple inn on the other side of town, near the dirt road that leads to the old MacAllister warehouse.

It wasn't a place for a rich man's daughter.

I stood outside for a few minutes, looking at the peeling facade and the thirsty plant pots. I raised my fist and knocked twice on the door of room 6.

I heard light footsteps. The doorknob turned. And there she was. Different from hours ago, when she was among the crowd at the auction. Now… she was just inches away. Her red eyes betrayed the crying. Her makeup-free skin, marked with emotion. And for a moment, a very brief moment, something inside me threatened to give way.

But it didn't give way. Not yet.

"Cristian, I really need to talk to you. I…"

"I don't want to hear your excuses," I cut her off immediately, with the coldest voice I intended to use. "Nothing that comes out of your mouth interests me."

I looked directly into her eyes. "Looks like you were crying, weren't you?"

She swallowed hard. The pain was there, visible. But I wasn't ready to feel sorry for her.

"Nothing about me interests you?" she retorted, her voice trembling. "So you want to know why I cried? Go ahead, start laughing at my misfortune. That's all I have left."

"I don't usually laugh at other people's misfortunes," I said, crossing my arms. "I just observe. You're alone, aren't you?"

"I always have been. But it's not for lack of options," she said, her tone firm, but her eyes wounded.

"Can I come in?"

She hesitated for two seconds, then moved away from the door.

"Sure. Do you want something to drink?"

"Right now, just some tea… if you have any."

She nodded and walked to the small kitchen, which barely allowed two steps.

Meanwhile, I went in and sat on the old sofa in the living room. The structure creaked with every movement.

I looked around the room.

It was a simple place. Small. Clean, but clearly cheap.

And that bothered me more than it should have.

Laura came from a wealthy family in the city. She always had everything in her hands. Private school, fancy dinners, expensive dresses, weekend trips. And now she was there… staying in an inn that barely provided basic comfort. Back when I met her, she was snobbish, and over time she adapted to life in the countryside. But as I see it, it was all a big farce.

"I didn't expect to see you here," she said, returning with two steaming cups. She handed one to me.

I drank the tea without answering. The silence was thick.

"I just wanted you to… listen to me, at least once. I know I took a long time. I know I hurt you. But there are things you don't know, Cristian."

"And now you want to tell me? After five years?"

She sat in the chair across from me. Her hands held the mug tightly, as if that warmth was the last safe thing in the world.

"I didn't have the strength before. And I know I don't deserve your understanding." She paused. "But… if you listen to me, at least once, it will be more than I expected."

"Get to the point, Laura."

She sighed deeply. The sound of someone carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

"What I did to you was unforgivable. I know that. But I didn't leave because I wanted to… at least not really."

I rolled my eyes and put the mug down on the coffee table.

"Who are you going to blame? The rain? The wind?"

"My family." Her voice came out firm this time. "You know they never accepted you. They always treated you as inferior. As if you were just a summer fling of the spoiled daughter. But you were never that to me, Cristian. Never."

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold back the tears.

"On the eve of our wedding, my father almost died. My mother accused me of destroying the family. They told me that if I married you, I would be responsible for everything bad that happened afterward."

"And you believed it?" I said, staring. "You believed that and thought leaving a note was the best way to end everything?" I got up angrily, running my hands through my dark hair.

She closed her eyes for a second.

"I panicked. I felt swallowed up. Alone. Weak. And I made the worst choice of my life."

"You really did."

The voice came out lower than I expected.

Inside, I was fighting a battle between anger and longing.

"I just…" she tried to compose herself, "I just wanted you to know that I never forgot you. Never. That every time I woke up with an empty bed, I thought about coming back. But I thought it was too late. And when I realized… I had already ruined everything."

I walked to the window.

"Too late is what you did to us. To me. To everything." I took a deep breath. "I loved you with everything I had, Laura. And you threw it away as if it were nothing. And at that time it was nothing, in your eyes."

When I looked over my shoulder, she was crying silently. This time… something inside me faltered.

But I couldn't give in. Not now.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

She swallowed hard.

"There is… but not now."

"As you wish."

I grabbed my hat from the arm of the sofa, walked to the door, and turned around one last time.

"Life teaches. And you taught me that loving too much also destroys."

I left there before any weakness pulled me back.

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