CHAPTER 10: TOO LATE
499 Words
Khang stood where she had left him.
The space still felt cold.
Empty.
As if something important had just been taken away.
He did not move.
Not immediately.
His hand slowly lowered.
The warmth from her wrist was already gone.
Yet the feeling remained.
Unfamiliar.
Unsettling.
Minh’s words echoed in his mind.
Looks like you lost something important.
Khang’s jaw tightened.
Lost.
He had never thought about that word before.
Not when it came to Linh.
Because in his mind, she had always been there.
Quiet.
Obedient.
Unchanging.
He turned and walked out of the hotel.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
Back in the car, the silence pressed in on him.
The city lights passed by outside.
Blurry.
Distant.
“President Nguyen,” the driver called carefully, “where to?”
Khang did not answer right away.
His mind was somewhere else.
Somewhere in the past.
“Home,” he said finally.
The house was dark when he arrived.
Too quiet.
He stepped inside.
Everything was the same.
Nothing had changed.
And yet, it felt completely different.
He walked into the living room.
His eyes scanned the space.
The couch.
The table.
The small details he had never noticed before.
For three years, she had lived here.
And now, there was nothing left of her.
Not a single trace.
Khang stood still.
A strange feeling rose in his chest again.
Tighter this time.
Harder to ignore.
He walked to the bedroom.
Pushed the door open.
Empty.
Cold.
The closet was half open.
Only his clothes remained.
Her side was gone.
Completely.
As if she had never belonged here.
His fingers brushed against the empty space.
And for the first time, something inside him cracked.
He remembered her.
Standing quietly by the window.
Waiting for him.
Cooking dinner that he never touched.
Smiling softly when he returned late.
Moments he had never cared about.
Moments he had ignored.
Now, they came back one by one.
Clear.
Painfully clear.
Khang sat down slowly on the edge of the bed.
The silence around him grew louder.
He finally understood something he had refused to see.
She had never been weak.
She had only chosen to stay.
And he had chosen to let her go.
His phone suddenly rang.
Khang looked at the screen.
Lan.
He stared at it for a few seconds.
Then answered.
“Khang,” Lan’s voice came through, soft as always.
“Are you okay?”
A pause.
For the first time, he did not know how to respond.
“I’m fine,” he said.
But his voice sounded distant.
Even to himself.
After the call ended, the room fell silent again.
Khang leaned back.
Closing his eyes.
But no matter how he tried, one image remained.
Linh.
Walking away.
Without looking back.
He opened his eyes slowly.
A thought formed in his mind.
Clear.
Unavoidable.
He had made a mistake.
And for the first time in his life,
he did not know how to fix it.
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