Welcome Home

I wanted to sneak to the hospital, but my sister-in-law caught me.

After the night in the garbage dump, my nosebleeds had not stopped.

My head hurt as if it would explode.

For more than half a year, I had had these symptoms.

I ignored them.

I was busy.

The doctor saw my condition and pushed me into an MRI.

Brain cancer.

Late stage.

“Miss Zhu,” the doctor said, “if you accept treatment, you can still live longer. The cancer has not fully spread.”

“But without treatment, at most three months.”

Nearly two months had already passed.

I did not know my odds of living.

I had returned Howard a truth.

But I could not repair the five-year gap.

I had shared a room with the murderer of my husband for five years.

I had nearly given birth to his child.

I had no face to see Howard.

Death always arrives on time.

Miracles did not.

On an ordinary morning, I remembered something Howard once said.

He quoted a poem and told me youth without hatred could be without regret, like a quiet full moon on a hill.

“Qingqing,” he once said, “I think our youth should be honest.”

“Honest is fine,” I had replied, “but Howard, we still need to pass university exams.”

“Then will you go to the same university as me?”

I had not answered yet.

My vision was already blurred.

I seemed to forget many things.

But I never forgot my dead lover.

At that moment, I knew my time had come.

Would someone be sad after I died?

Would Leah think of me often?

There was no time to think.

Consciousness faded.

Then I saw Howard.

He stood not far away, smiling at me.

This time, I finally saw his face.

My Howard.

My moon.

My moon alone.

His embrace finally had warmth.

Not the bone-piercing cold of a tombstone.

Good.

At last, I was reunited with him.

At last, we had a home.

Just as we once promised.

This time, neither of us would miss each other’s story again.

No difficulty could separate us anymore.

The story of Clara Zhu and Howard He would continue.

Only no one else would know.

“Qingqing,” he said, opening his arms.

“Welcome home.”