She Swore Never To Be The Other Woman But He Made Her One Anyway Chapter 09

She Swore Never To Be The Other Woman But He Made Her One Anyway Chapter 09

She was silent for a while. 

Then she gave a small smile. 

“I found myself.” 

“It took me twenty years to understand that I don’t need to wait for him to turn back, I don’t need him to acknowledge 

me, and I don’t need him to give me anything.” 

“I only needed to admit one thing.” 

“What thing?” 

“I made the wrong choice.” 

“And then?” 

“And then I stopped waiting.” 

She stood up, walked over to me, and looked down. 

“Cassie, you aren’t your mother.” 

“And you aren’t me.” 

“You don’t need to wait twenty years to know you made the 

wrong choice.” 

“You can leave right now.” 

“Leave to where?” 

“To yourself.” 

“To a place your mother never went, a place I never went, a place Silas never went.” 

“A place only you can go.” 

I looked at her. 

She looked at me too. 

The light from the window shone on her. 

I suddenly realized that the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes 

didn’t show exhaustion. 

Only peace. 

The kind of peace that comes after a long wait. 

I stood up. 

“Mrs. Sterling, thank you.” 

She nodded. 

“No need to thank me.” 

I reached the door. 

She said from behind me: 

“Cassie.” 

I looked back. 

“Look forward, don’t look back.” 

“And you?” I asked. 

“You waited twenty years. How did you finally figure it out?” 

She gave a small smile. 

“One day I realized I wasn’t waiting for him.” 

“I was waiting for an apology.” 

“Then I thought, does it matter if he apologizes or not?” 

“If he apologizes, can I go back to being twenty?” 

“If he apologizes, can I choose again?” 

“No.” 

“So I stopped waiting.” 

“The first day I stopped waiting, I had a good night’s sleep.” 

“The second day, I had a good meal.” 

“The third day, I noticed the flowers outside were blooming.” 

“Only then did I realize I hadn’t looked at that tree for twenty years.” 

I stood at the door, watching her. 

She picked up her tea cup and took a sip. 

“Cassie, your mother wanted me to tell you one more thing.” 

“What?” 

“You are hers, but you aren’t her.” 

“The path she took, you don’t need to walk again.” 

“The mistakes she made, you don’t need to make again.” 

“The answer she waited for, you don’t need to wait for.” 

“Because the answer doesn’t matter at all.” 

“What matters is who you are.” 

I walked out of the tea room. 

Through the gardens, through the foyer, and out the front 

door. 

The leaves of the two century–old ginkgo trees at the gate had turned yellow and covered the ground. 

I stepped on the fallen leaves, making a crunching sound. 

My phone rang. 

Silas. 

I picked up. 

“Cassie, did my mother find you?” 

“Yes.” 

“What did she say?” 

“She said, I am me.” 

The other end was silent for a long time. 

Then he said: 

“Cassie, I-” 

“Silas.” 

I interrupted him. 

“You know, my mother waited twenty years, and in the end, she realized one thing.” 

“What?” 

“She wasn’t waiting for Teddy.” 

“She was waiting for herself to forgive herself.” 

There was no sound on the phone. 

“Me too.” 

“I waited three months, and I wasn’t waiting for you to turn 

back.” 

“I was waiting for the answer my mother never got.” 

“But I just realized.” 

“That answer doesn’t matter at all.” 

“What matters is…” 

I didn’t finish. 

And he didn’t ask. 

A long silence followed. 

I said, “Silas, goodbye.” 

I hung up. 

I put that photo in my pocket. 

I looked up at the sky. 

The sky in New Veridian was hazy, no clouds in sight. 

But I thought the sky looked quite blue.