The Seventh Time I Stopped Waiting Chapter 09

The Seventh Time I Stopped Waiting Chapter 09

I turned. Linden came out from behind the cabin.

Jude followed my gaze and saw him.

He stepped forward. He couldn’t hold back the sobs anymore.

“You still love me. You wouldn’t have said all that if you didn’t still care.”

“Yuna, look at me! Look me in the eyes and tell me you feel absolutely nothing for me.”

I looked up. Straight into his reddened eyes.

“Jude, I don’t love you anymore.”

“I used to think of you as the light of my life.”

“But now.” I took Linden’s hand. “I don’t need that light anymore. It was always too far away. Always flickering.”

Jude swayed, almost losing his footing.

He bit his lip. His voice was shaking with desperation.

“Then why did you snap that hairpin apart back then? Why did you cry so much for me?”

“Because I was saying goodbye to the girl I used to be.”

“I wasn’t crying for you. I was crying for that stupid girl who gave everything and got hurt.”

“I broke the hairpin to tell her—stop waiting. It’s over.”

Finally, tears spilled from Jude’s eyes.

I watched him fall apart. Then I said, flatly.

“Jude, we are even now. Have a good life.”

Jude laughed. Tears still rolling down his face.

He gazed at me for a final time before turning to leave the village.

Three years passed. The documentary came out on schedule.

It became an instant hit and claimed numerous major awards.

The whole village became famous. Journalists and media flooded in.

Then one day, a group of young reporters showed up at my door.

Cameras pointed at me. Their tone was earnest.

“We’re film students. Jude Wilder went to our school. The villagers said you two used to be together.”

I sat in the yard and shook my head.

“You’ve got the wrong person.”

“If you want to know something, go interview him.”

The reporter’s voice turned sad.

“Senior Jude passed away last year. He took his own life for a girl in Briarvale.”

My breath caught in my throat.

Three years. I thought he had completely disappeared from my life,

moving on to win his awards and live out his dream of being a famous director.

I never thought the next time I heard his name, it would be to say he was dead.

The reporters saw my face change.

They kept talking.

“Before he died, Senior Jude kept saying that documentary was his life’s work.”

“He said he’d managed to capture every beautiful corner of this mountain, yet lost the only person who ever truly loved him.”

The reporter sighed softly.

“If you’re that girl… would you be willing to share some of your story? We want to make a documentary about him for our senior thesis.”

I listened quietly. Tears blurred my eyes.

Jude had come to Briarvale as a fresh graduate too.

He used to smile and talk of his dream to become an outstanding director.

I wiped the corner of my eye and nodded. “What do you want to know?”