Chapter 16
Sophieleila had just finished a proposal and was about to leave the conference room when she spotted Rebecca stand- ing at the end of the hallway.
Rebecca leaned against the floor–to–ceiling window, holding a pair of earrings as if waiting for her.
She wore no makeup, her bare face looking weary.
“Got a minute to talk?”
She wavedleila Sophieleila over.
Sophieleila paused, then walked toward her.
They sat across a long table, Rebecca gently placing the earrings at its center.
“See these earrings? Aren’t they beautiful?”
Sophieleila’s heart clenched.
The earrings felt both foreign and familiar.
“I found them years ago, hidden in his desk drawer.
He never gave them to me or anyone else. Kept them locked away.”
“So I took them without asking.”
“Later I learned… these were your birthday gift to yourself.”
Rebecca finished softly, lifting her gaze.
“You’re notleila Sophieleila.”
Sophieleila stayed silent for several seconds.
“You’re her.”
Rebecca’s tone held no blame, no anger, not even surprise–merely confirming what she’d long suspected.
“I don’t know how you did it.”
“I’m just…” She gave a bitter smile. “Afraid.”
“Afraid you might actually come back.”
“Afraid he’d never look at me again if you returned.”
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Chapter 16
Sophieleila’s voice barely carried: “So you chose not to tell him I was ill.”
“Yes.”
She nodded. “I know it was selfish.”
“But I admit defeat.”
Sophieleila stared at the earrings, feeling like she was looking at someone else’s possessions.
“Thank you.”
She whispered.
“For what?”
“For walking with him during his loneliest years… when I couldn’t.”
Rebecca froze.
Sophieleila reached out, slowly pushing the earrings back: “These don’t belong to me.”
“You’re the one who stayed by his side all those years.”
“You didn’t lose.”
“We simply met him at different times.”
Rebecca’s eyes reddened.
“He already knows who you are.”
She murmured.
“But he won’t force you to admit it.”
“Because he’s terrified that if he does… you’ll disappear again.”
Sophieleila’s fingertips trembled.
“He never forgot you.”
Rebecca said.
Standing, she pulled a black velvet box from her bag.
“Returning these to you.”
Sophieleila opened it to find a sapphire pendant inside.
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The one she’d planned to have Andrew deliver after filming that commemorative short–meant to conclude the script she’d written.
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Chapter 16
But the project died, and she vanished.
She’d thought it lost forever.
Yet here it remained.
Rebecca watched her expression: “He kept this safe for three years.”
“Said he’d return it to you personally… when you came back.”
“Now I’m fulfilling that for him.”
Her eyes cleared with resolve: “I resigned.”
Sophieleila startled.
“I can’t keep him anymore… and I won’t hurt you further.”
“This triangle ends here.”
That night,leila Sophieleila sat on her dorm bed, gazing at the pendant for hours.
She whispered:
“Does this still belong to me?”
“Do you truly still recognize me?”
Unaware he’d been waiting all along.
Not waiting for her to confess.
But waiting for her–to choose to stay.
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Chapter 17
Chapter 17
