The rain had been falling since dawn soft, endless, and strangely comforting. Meilin stood by the window, watching droplets race down the glass like tears she no longer knew how to shed.
Xiaoya's laughter echoed faintly from the garden, her small umbrella bobbing up and down as she tried to catch the rain.
For a brief moment, Meilin smiled. But her chest tightened again when she saw Jiang Rui standing beneath the old cherry tree the one that had once been their favorite place before everything fell apart.
He looked distant, lost in thought, his shirt clinging to his skin from the rain.
You'll get sick out there, she called softly.
He turned, eyes unreadable. You used to say that… when you still cared.
The words cut deeper than any blade.
She walked toward him, her slippers soaking in the wet grass.Rui… I'm trying to make things right.
He didn't move. "Trying doesn't change the past
For a heartbeat, the only sound was the rain.
Then Meilin took his hand trembling, desperate. Maybe not. But it can change the future.
Jiang Rui looked at her, really looked and for the first time, she saw conflict behind his calm eyes. A flicker of something old and broken, still fighting to survive.
You once told me, she whispered, that love doesn't die… it just waits.
His jaw tightened. And what if it waited too long?
Meilin's heart clenched, but she didn't let go. Then I'll wait for it this time.
The wind carried her words away, but something shifted quietly, like the world holding its breath.
From the porch, Xiaoya's voice rang out, innocent and pure,
Daddy! Mommy! Come inside! You'll both get sick!
Both of them turned and for the first time in years, they smiled at the same time.
Maybe love wasn't gone. Maybe it was just waiting… beneath the rain.
End of Chapter 5