Chapter 8
Julian asked security to escort Adrian out of the gallery.
Then he crouched down and carefully picked up the broken camera.
“I will find someone who can repair it.”
I shook my head.
“It is all right if they cannot.”
Some things did not need to be forced back into their original shape after they were broken.
After the exhibition, I heard that Adrian became seriously ill.
His fever would not go down, and he remained unconscious in the hospital for several days.
Two weeks later, he appeared outside my studio.
He had lost a great deal of weight.
Dark circles covered the skin beneath his eyes.
“Claire, I keep having the same dream.”
I did not invite him inside.
“You can tell me from there.”
Adrian stared at me for a long time.
“In the dream, Vivian was not the woman who entered Suite 1908.”
“You were.”
My fingers stopped moving.
He continued.
“You had a high fever, but you still searched the entire ship for me.”
“You stayed with me through the night.”
“The next morning, reporters were waiting outside the door.”
“I accused you of drugging me and calling them.”
“Then we got married.”
His voice grew quieter.
“On our wedding night, I left you alone and slept with Vivian after drinking.”
“Three years later, she returned with a child.”
“You showed me a pregnancy test and told me that you were pregnant too.”
“But I forced you to have an abortion.”
His voice began to shake.
“In the dream, you died during the procedure.”
“Claire, was that really only a dream?”
I remained silent for a long time.
Then I slowly shook my head.
“No.”
Adrian swayed on his feet.
I spoke calmly.
“In my previous life, I was the woman who entered Suite 1908.”
“I saved you, married you, and became pregnant with your child.”
“In the end, our baby and I both died during the procedure you arranged.”
His face turned white.
His eyes slowly filled with tears.
“Is that why you sent Vivian the room number in this life?”
“Yes.”
I did not deny it.
“I only told her where you were.”
“What she chose to do was her decision.”
Adrian reached toward me but stopped before touching me.
“Claire, I am sorry.”
“I did not know. I would never have done it if I had known.”
“There is no other outcome to imagine, Adrian.”
I cut him off.
“For three years in our previous life, you never truly saw me.”
“You never trusted me either.”
His tears finally fell.
“Give me one more chance.”
“I can make it up to you in this life.”
“You can continue your photography. I will never stop you again.”
“If we have another child, I will treat the baby well this time.”
I stared at him.
His words were almost impossible to believe.
“That child was yours, Adrian.”
“Our baby was not some burden you agreed to accept for my sake.”
“I do not need your permission to continue my career.”
“As for our child, you already killed that baby in our previous life.”
His entire body went still.
I continued.
“You regret everything now because you finally understand what you lost.”
“You also know that I will never return to you.”
“But regret is not love.”
“It cannot erase what you did.”
Adrian opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Julian stepped out of the studio.
He stood beside me.
He did not question me or interrupt.
He quietly took my hand.
I looked at Adrian.
“Do not come here again.”
“Our relationship has already ended twice.”
He remained where he was and watched Julian and me leave together.
After that day, I heard that Adrian began drinking heavily.
He rarely went to the office.
He stayed alone at home and looked at the photographs from the cruise ship over and over again.
One month later, Julian returned my repaired camera.
The lens had been replaced.
The marks on the body of the camera were still there.
“Why did you leave the damage?” I asked.
Julian looked at me.
“The marks do not need to disappear.”
“They remind you that you survived what caused them.”
Then he lowered himself onto one knee.
He held a ring set with a blue stone.
“Claire, I will go with you wherever you want to go.”
“Will you marry me?”
I looked at him and smiled.
“Yes.”
We planned the wedding for three months later.
Somehow, Adrian learned about it.
On the day before our wedding, he boarded the same cruise ship from three years earlier.
It was traveling the same route.
He also booked Suite 1908.
That night, he drank heavily and took sleeping pills.
A storm began after midnight.
He stumbled onto the deck.
Wind drove the rain against his face.
He held the railing and looked back at the empty hallway behind him.
Perhaps he was still waiting until his final moment.
He was waiting for me to appear as I had in our previous life.
But no one would cross the entire ship with a high fever to save him this time.
His foot slipped.
He fell over the railing and disappeared into the freezing ocean.
The search continued through the night.
The rescue team recovered his body the next morning.
I learned about his death on my wedding day.
After a moment of silence, I turned off my phone.
Julian did not ask whether I was upset.
He simply wrapped his arms around me.
Sunlight filled the grounds outside the church.
I took Julian’s arm and walked toward the new life waiting for me.
One year later, we had a daughter.
She was born early in the morning.
As the first sunlight entered the hospital room, Julian carefully placed her in my arms.
“What should we name her?”
I looked down at our daughter.
“Dawn.”
She was the beginning of a new day.
She was also my new beginning.
In this life, no one would ever drag me back into that storm.