He Waited for Me at the Border, I Already Left the Country Chapter 02

He Waited for Me at the Border, I Already Left the Country Chapter 02

The moment the SUV stopped, I opened the door and got out.

He rolled down the window and called after me, “Elena, Sienna grew up with me. She’s like a sister. Don’t overthink it.”

I carried my things toward the inpatient wing without looking back.

The ER room smelled sharply of disinfectant.

I sat by the bed and quietly watched my mother.

My phone buzzed. A video had appeared on the local social feed.

The background was the late-night grill behind the base.

Adrian was in civilian clothes, drunk and loose, sitting beside several staff officers I recognized.

Someone egged him on. “Colonel, tell us your secret. How’d you get your fiancée so obedient?”

He had a cigarette between his fingers, his eyes narrowed in a lazy smile. “You stall. Whatever a woman asks you for, don’t rush to agree. One word. Wait.”

“Wait until she’s about to lose it, then give her a little. Do it enough times, and she’ll be wrapped around your finger.”

Someone beside him chimed in. “Then how did you get her to hand over her paycheck?”

“I said we were saving for a house,” he said, flicking ash from his cigarette. “For our future. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?”

Sienna sat beside him and gave a sarcastic little hum. “What about me? Are you really planning to marry her?”

Adrian reached out and pulled her into his arms. His voice was not loud, but the video captured it clearly.

“How could you be the same as her? Back then, I was afraid you’d suffer if you stayed with me. That’s why I chose her.”

I gripped my phone until my fingers went numb. My mind went completely blank.

A sour ache rose in my throat.

So he had planned it from the beginning.

Tears came pouring down.

Eight years.

From the military academy to his commissioned track, from platoon leader to colonel, I had waited for him for eight years.

But he had never once imagined a future with me.

My tears landed on the screen one drop after another.

With shaking hands, I saved the video. When I refreshed the page, the post was already gone.

I did not know how long I sat in that chair. By the time I looked up, the sky outside had turned pale.

My mother moved slightly and called weakly, “Elena…”

I quickly took her hand. “Mom, I’m here.”

After the doctor finished rounds, my mother looked into my eyes.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

I held back my tears and nodded.

When I came back from buying breakfast, I opened the door and found Adrian already there.

He had changed into clean civilian clothes.

My mother was holding the warm porridge he had brought. “Adrian said he was bringing breakfast. Why did you go out and buy more?”

He handed me a bag.

“Your favorite spicy soup and breakfast buns.”

I did not take it. I stepped aside. “No thanks. I bought my own.”

My mother looked at him, then at me, her brows furrowing. “What’s going on with you two? Did you fight?”

“No,” he answered first.

“Yes,” I said right after him.

Our eyes met.

He gave a small laugh. “Mrs. Hart, Elena’s just upset. I’ll talk her out of it later.”

My mother shot me a look. “Adrian is busy, and he still came all the way to the ER. Walk him out.”

I said nothing and stood up to see him off.

His SUV was parked downstairs.

When he bought it, he said it would be convenient for weekend trips with me.

In the end, he never took me anywhere. But he drove Sienna to plenty of cities, and just last month, the two of them had gone to the coast together.

He had given me a perfect-sounding excuse:

I was busy with work and taking vacation would be difficult.

“Adrian, let’s break up.”

His steps stopped. He turned to look at me in disbelief.

“What are you upset about now?”

I had long since lost the desire to argue with him. “I mean it. We’re done.”

His face darkened. “After eight years, you’re just going to end it like that?”

I gave a faint smile, bitterness stuck in my throat. “In your heart, Sienna has always mattered more, hasn’t she?”

He tugged irritably at his collar. “This is about Sienna again? Give me a break.”

“The proposal happened because she said she didn’t want to get married, but she was curious about what being proposed to felt like.”

“And the doctor said your mom wasn’t in serious danger, so I took Sienna out to eat. That’s all.”

I looked straight into his eyes and said each word clearly.

“You always have a reason.”

“But I don’t want to hear them anymore.”

“You told me to wait. I waited eight years. Was that still not enough?”

By the last sentence, I was nearly screaming until my voice broke.