The Home You Waited For

CHAPTER 12 - The Choice

AS noon approached, the sky suddenly darkened, accompanied by a light drizzle. The smell of damp earth is drifting in from outside the medical tent.

Jia focused solely on applying a bandage to the young boy’s ankle, which he had sprained while playing.

“You need to rest for a few days, so your foot will heal quickly.” She gently instructed the boy. The child's mother thanked Jia and politely said goodbye to her after she prescribed a painkiller. But Jia's mind wasn't entirely in the room.

It had been three days since Chenxi left for Lingxiao. He went to their barracks one morning, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, and told her he needed to report to their SWAT headquarters. He told her he'd be back quickly – three days at most.

She found herself glancing at the road that wound into the mountains. Time seemed to slow the moment Chenxi left, and she admitted to herself how much she missed his presence. Everything felt emptier, sadder without him. A sigh escaped her when she heard whispers outside the medical tent.

Suddenly, the tent door opened, and a young woman entered, who looked no older than twenty-three. Her skin is pale, as if she hasn't seen the sun. Her hair was neatly tied in a bun with a red ribbon. Her clothes, finer than most villagers', marked her as someone who didn't have to work the fields. She carried herself with the kind of poise that comes from always being welcome in any room.

The woman's gaze immediately fixed on her. “You must be Dr. Jia Velasquez.” Her voice was soft, sweet – yet there was a sharp glint in her eyes that didn't match the warmth of her tone.

Jia straightened. “Yes, I am Dr. Jia Velasquez. How can I help you?”

“I heard Captain Lu is here. I went to see him, but his comrade said he was going to headquarters in Lingxiao.” She said, smiling slightly, but it didn't reach her eyes. “I also heard that you're the one he has spent most of his time with since you arrived here in Miyaran.”

Jia felt the change in the atmosphere. She could feel the tension between her and the woman. She also felt that the woman wanted to convey that there was something between her and Chenxi. Two nurses glanced over, pretending not to listen.

“Captain Lu is away on official business.” She casually answered. “If you have a medical concern, I can—”

“Oh, no.” The woman got even closer to Jia and introduced herself almost in a whisper. “I'm not here for that. I just wanted to meet you. I am Lian Xue. My father is the village chief.” She let it hang like a credential, expecting recognition.

She just nodded, but with respect.

“We've known each other for almost ten years, Chenxi and I. He has become friends with my father since he was assigned here. He's been visiting our family ever since. Once, he promised me he would take me to Beijing so I could see the beauty of the place and where he was born and raised.” Lian Xue paused briefly in her speech. Her eyes lingered on Jia for a beat too long. Disgust can be seen on his face. “But I suppose he's been busy with other things lately.”

Jia held her gaze. “Captain Lu has many friends here.”

“Yes, he has many friends here,” Lian Xue's smile deepened, “but not all of them get to have him by their side every day.”

Jia didn't expect her chest to suddenly tighten. She adjusted her posture. “If you want, I'll tell him you came to visit.”

The woman’s eyes sparkled with a mix of challenge and certainty. “Tell him I’ll wait. Captain Lu already knows where to find me.”

She turned and left, the tent flaps fluttering in the cool mountain breeze.

Jia seemed rooted to the spot before finally sinking into a nearby chair. Exhaustion weighed on her from the day’s events. She closed her eyes and buried her face on the table in front of her.

“Doc Jia, are you okay?” She heard the worried voice of one of her fellow nurses.

“Rest for a while, Doc. You've been working since earlier and you still haven't taken a break. You only ate bread and water.” according to another nurse.

She looked up and forced a smile at the two. “I'm okay. No need to worry.”

“But Doc Jia,” they both protested.

“Come on, call the next patient. Let’s not keep them waiting—they should be able to go home right away before the heavy rain catches them.”

They couldn't do anything and just obeyed her orders.

She didn't know why her mind had already painted the image of Chenxi and Lian Xue in the same frame – smiling in a way that made something inside her twist. She kept telling herself it didn't matter to her, but why did she feel a strange ache in her heart whenever she thought about the two of them?

NESTLED on the outskirts of Lingxiao City, the Lingxiao Special Operations Command is a formidable fortress of steel and reinforced concrete. The compound is surrounded by high, razor-wire-topped walls and guarded by a rotating squad of highly trained sentries. Camouflaged watchtowers rise at each corner, scanning the horizon with thermal optics and night-vision equipment.

Inside, the base is a sprawling complex of interconnected buildings designed for rapid deployment and tactical coordination. The central command center is a dimly lit room lined with digital maps, surveillance monitors, and communication arrays, staffed around the clock by operators in tactical gear. Nearby, the armory houses a meticulously maintained arsenal of weapons, ranging from assault rifles to specialized breaching equipment.

Barracks for the operatives are austere but functional — rows of bunk beds, gear lockers, and communal briefing rooms where strategy and intel are dissected with military precision. Outside, a reinforced vehicle bay shelters armored personnel carriers, motorcycles, and rapid-response vehicles, all ready to roar out at a moment’s notice.

Despite the hard, utilitarian exterior, the LSOC hums with tense energy and disciplined focus — a vital nerve center for Lingxiao’s swift and decisive response to threats, where every second counts and every mission carries weight.

INSIDE the central command room, Captain Lu Chenxi stood straight in front of his superior, Commander Zhao Fenghua. A stern woman in her early 50s known for her no-nonsense leadership.

“Captain Lu, I’ve reviewed your recent field reports. Your performance during the Miyaran Valley operation was exemplary.”

“Thank you, ma’am. It was a challenging mission, but we accomplished the objective.”

“That's exactly why I called you.” The commander looked at him intently. “Your skills—your judgment under pressure—are exactly what the Special Operations Command needs back in Beijing, in Qingshan District.”

“I'm honored, ma'am. But I think my team still needs me here.”

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I've offered this to you several times. Returning to Beijing to train the new SWAT recruits is not just a promotion – it's an important responsibility. Also, your experience is invaluable.”

“I know, ma'am. And I've thought about your offer several times before. I think it's time to accept your offer and go back to Beijing.”

He looked at his superior seriously. It was obvious she was surprised by his decision.

“You keep saying no for the past few years. Why?”

“Years ago, when you first asked me, I refused. I wasn’t ready to face the person I had lost. Every thought of going back was unbearably painful, like walking straight into a storm.”

Flashback — Lingxiao Command Room, a few years earlier.

“Captain Lu, it’s time. The recruits need you. You’re the only one who can give them what they need.”

Chenxi shook his head, clearly tense. “Not yet, ma'am. I'm not ready to go back. Maybe never.”

“Then, what makes you change your mind, Captain Lu?” She studied him carefully.

Chenxi takes a deep breath, eyes locking with Commander Zhao’s, his voice low but trembling with the weight of years.

“I saw her again. After all these years, it's still her. She's still the reason I breathe, the reason I'm alive. I thought I had forgotten how to hope, but when I saw her, everything came back. For the first time in years, I felt it again—that feeling of having a home. And that home is her.”

He could still see her in his mind — the way her eyes had widened when she saw him again, the slight hitch in her breath, like the world had paused for them alone. Years of distance, silence, and unresolved pain had built a wall so high he thought he’d never climb it. But at that single moment, with just one look, the wall cracked.

For a very long time, he convinced himself that he was okay even without Jia in his life. That he can forget everything and move on.

But fate and the truth were so cruel that he had been surviving, not living. And now that he had seen her again, he knew with absolute certainty: he couldn't go back to just surviving.

Commander Zhao nods approvingly. “Good. Lingxiao will feel your absence, but Beijing will gain more than just an instructor—they’ll get a leader who’s ready to face every challenge.”

“I'm ready to go back to Beijing. I will train those recruits as if my life depends on it. Because of this opportunity, I'm not just fighting for a mission.”

He looked out the window at the twinkling lights of Lingxiao City. A gentle smile was etched on his lips. The future feels uncertain, but for the first time in many years, he's ready to face it with Jia.