Chapter 13: The Mud, the Rain, the Love
408 Words
The note was simple:
> Gone for a medical outreach. Remote village. Back in five days.
No name. No place. No goodbye.
Chloe stared at the scrap of paper in Ethan’s apartment as if it might explain itself.
He had left her. Without telling her. Again.
She paced the room, fury rising in her throat. Five days? After everything? After that kiss?
Not a chance.
---
Later That Night
Rain poured like punishment from the sky as her driver navigated the broken countryside roads. Mud streaked the windshield. The signal was gone. She couldn’t even yell at Ethan properly.
They were halfway up a narrow hill trail when—boom.
The car tilted.
Punctured tire. Of course.
“Unbelievable,” Chloe muttered, grabbing her coat. “I’ll walk.”
“Ma’am, it’s dangerous—”
“I’m Chloe Reed,” she snapped. “I don’t wait. I go.”
She slammed the door behind her, boots hitting the mud like a promise.
By sunrise, she was a mess.
Her coat was torn, her dress soaked through, hair wild, every step squelching in mud. But she had walked the entire way.
And there it was—the camp. A set of white tents scattered in a green field. Villagers surrounded them, laughing and smiling as Ethan checked pulses and gave instructions.
Then he saw her.
Standing at the edge of the field, hair tangled, eyes blazing, lips trembling, covered in dirt.
He dropped everything.
“Chloe.”
She didn’t wait.
She ran.
So did he.
When they collided, it wasn’t delicate. It was wild. A muddy, breathless, heart-clenching hug.
“You i***t,” she sobbed against his chest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He held her tighter than he ever had before.
“I didn’t want to pull you into my world.”
She looked up, voice shaking. “You are my world.”
His lips crashed into hers—this time, not stolen, but given. Everything he never said was in that kiss. Regret. Apology. Love.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t think you’d follow me.”
She cupped his face. “Then you don’t know me at all.”
---
That night, under a tent in the quiet countryside, wrapped in blankets and each other, Ethan finally said the words she’d waited to hear:
“I love you, Chloe Reed.”
And this time, she didn’t steal him.
He gave him freely.
- Writer
