Chapter 4
1413 Words
Noelle’s POV
There are moments in life when you wish you could go back.
Not to change everything.
Not to erase every mistake.
Just to have one more chance to say the words you were too afraid to say.
For ten years, I replayed that night in my head.
The night I left Isla.
The night I broke the promise I made to the person I loved the most.
And every time, I asked myself the same question.
What if I had stayed?
What if I had trusted her?
What if I had fought harder?
Maybe things would have been different.
Maybe Isla and I would have grown together instead of becoming strangers.
But I couldn’t change the past.
All I could do was finally tell her the truth.
Even if the truth destroyed whatever was left between us.
“I was told you were the reason everything was falling apart.”
The words sounded different when I said them out loud.
Crueler.
More painful.
Because I knew how they sounded.
I knew how impossible they were to believe.
Isla stared at me, confusion written all over her face.
“Someone told you I was the reason?”
I nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
I looked away.
I knew this was the part she was waiting for.
The part I had avoided for years.
The name.
The person who changed our lives.
“It was someone close to me.”
Her expression hardened.
“Someone close to you?”
I swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Your family?”
I didn’t answer immediately.
And that was enough.
Isla’s face changed.
She understood.
“Your father?”
I closed my eyes.
“Yes.”
The silence between us felt heavier than the ocean beside us.
For years, I wondered what Isla would say when she finally knew the truth.
I imagined anger.
I imagined hatred.
I imagined her telling me that I was selfish for leaving.
But seeing the pain on her face was worse.
Because she wasn’t angry.
She was hurt.
“You could’ve told me.”
Her voice was quiet.
And somehow, that hurt more than yelling.
“I know.”
“Noelle, you could’ve talked to me.”
“I know.”
“You could’ve trusted me.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
The same words.
The same apology.
But nothing could erase ten years of silence.
“I was eighteen, Isla.”
My voice shook.
“I was scared. I didn’t know what to do.”
She looked at me.
“And I wasn’t?”
I froze.
Her eyes became glassy.
“Do you think I wasn’t scared too?”
I couldn’t answer.
“Do you think losing you didn’t scare me?”
The truth was, I knew.
I knew because I knew Isla.
I knew how deeply she loved.
That was one of the things I loved about her.
She gave everything.
Even when she had every reason not to.
“My father told me that if I stayed with you, he would make sure your life became difficult.”
Isla’s expression changed.
“What?”
I looked down.
“He knew about us.”
The memory came back like it happened yesterday.
My father’s cold voice.
The disappointment in his eyes.
The way he spoke about Isla like she was a problem that needed to disappear.
“He told me he would ruin your future. Your family’s reputation. Your dreams.”
I took a shaky breath.
“And I believed him.”
The truth was painful.
Not because I thought leaving was right.
But because I knew now that I had been wrong.
Isla looked away.
“So you decided for both of us.”
I lowered my head.
“Yes.”
“You decided that I wasn’t strong enough to handle it.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
I looked at her.
“I decided that I couldn’t risk losing you.”
Her eyes softened for a second.
Only for a second.
Then the pain returned.
“But you lost me anyway.”
Those words broke something inside me.
Because they were true.
I spent ten years trying to protect Isla from pain.
And I became the reason she hurt.
⸻
Isla’s POV
I didn’t know what to feel.
That was the worst part.
If Noelle had told me she left because she stopped loving me, maybe it would have been easier.
If she had told me she found someone else, maybe I could have hated her.
But this?
This was complicated.
She didn’t leave because she didn’t care.
She left because she cared too much.
And somehow, that hurt even more.
“You should have let me choose.”
My voice was barely above a whisper.
Noelle looked at me.
“I know.”
“You should have let me stand beside you.”
“I know.”
“You should have trusted that I loved you enough to fight.”
Her tears fell.
“I know.”
I hated that she kept saying it.
Because it meant she understood.
And understanding didn’t fix anything.
“You know what hurt the most?”
Noelle looked at me.
“I thought I wasn’t enough.”
Her expression broke.
“Isla..”
“For ten years, I wondered what was wrong with me.”
My voice cracked.
“I wondered why loving me wasn’t enough for you to stay.”
Her face immediately filled with sadness.
“No. Isla, please don’t think that.”
“But that was what you made me believed.”
She stepped closer.
“I was wrong.”
I looked at her.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Her voice broke.
“You don’t understand how many times I wanted to come back.”
“Ten why didn’t you?”
She had no answer.
And that silence hurt.
After a few moments, she finally spoke.
“Because I was ashamed.”
I frowned.
“Ashamed?”
She nodded.
“I thought you would hate me.”
I looked at her.
“I did.”
Her eyes dropped.
“But I hated myself more.”
The honesty in her voice caught me off guard.
For a moment, I saw the old Noelle.
The girl who cried during sad movies.
The girl who apologized even when she wasn’t wrong.
The girl who loved too deeply.
But then I remembered the empty years.
The unanswered calls.
The birthdays without her.
The sunsets I watched alone.
“I don’t know if I can forgive you.”
Noelle nodded.
“I know.”
I looked at her.
“But I want to understand.”
Her eyes lifted.
And for the first time that evening, I saw a small piece of hope.
“Thank you.”
I looked away.
“Don’t thank me yet.”
A small, sad smile appeared on her face.
“I won’t.”
The waves moved quietly beside us.
The sunset was almost gone.
The same way it disappeared ten years ago.
But this time, I didn’t leave.
And neither did she.
Not yet.
⸻
Later that night, I sat alone in the café after closing.
The lights were off except for the small lamp near the window.
The same window where Noelle used to sit.
Amara found me there.
She didn’t say anything at first.
She just placed a cup of coffee in front of me.
“She told you.”
I nodded.
“She did.”
Amara sat across from me.
“And?”
I stared at the empty chair.
“She didn’t stop loving me.”
Amara was quiet.
“But she still left.”
I nodded.
“That’s the problem.”
Because love was never the thing we lacked.
We had love.
We had enough love to last a lifetime.
What we didn’t have was trust.
And without trust…
even the strongest love could fall apart.
I looked out the window at the dark sky.
For ten years, I thought Noelle was the only one who had changed.
But maybe I had too.
Because the old Isla would have forgiven her immediately.
The old Isla would have reached for her hand.
The old Isla would have chosen love without hesitation.
But I wasn’t that girl anymore.
I was the girl who stayed.
And now I had to decide if I was brave enough to let the girl who left come back.
- Writer
