When she saw that Ben was starting to forget about her, she panicked.
90
I sent her photos of me and Ben, which made it
worse.
The more he pushed her away, the more Chloe
wanted him.
So Ben couldn’t have won.
But I didn’t expect Chloe to use her body like
this.
Chloe thought she had won, but she was wrong.
A dancer’s body was the most important thing.
The love she chased, was just an illusion.
I moved back to my apartment. Ben didn’t stop
- me.
Г
The “Blue Bird” posters were replaced, at
Liam’s request.
After Chloe was hurt, she couldn’t perform
anymore.
Liam didn’t ask anyone else. He said on social
media that no one could portray the soul of the
Blue Bird.
So all the shows were cancelled.
I saw so many hate comments and went to
Liam’s door.
He looked sad.
His hair was messy. He was only in sweatpants.
“Hey.” I said.
I wanted to do the show.
く
But I had said terrible things to Liam.
He looked at me, “If you’re here to pity me, I
don’t want it.”
I said, “Do you need actors for your group? I…I
want to give it a go.”
Liam looked at me.
“Ava, what makes you think, I would let
someone dump me again?”
I knew it was my fault.
I was about to leave when Liam grabbed my
hand. “You’re leaving already?”
“You give up way too easily!”
“Can’t you convince me?”
r
I said, “I was going to ask every day.”
“I agree. Let’s sign the contract.”
Soon after that, “Blue Bird” was back.
No one expected much from the show.
One commenter wrote, “If Chloe can’t do it, is
there any other dancer who can?”
Liam replied: “She can.”
That became viral and I was attacked by
Chloe’s fans.
On opening night, the theater was silent.
When it was my solo, everything went silent.
I heard my breath, my heartbeat.
く
8:12
90
I found out later, half the audience were Chloe’s
fans.
They came to laugh.
But after my dance, the applause was
thunderous.
The cheering, the clapping, the awe…it went on and on.
The audience asked us to repeat the ending.
“Blue Bird” became the most popular show of
the year.
Even people who didn’t like dance, came after
they saw all the hype.
Our tour grew to over ten cities.
I met so many people.
<
My parents were first.
They came to see the show, never told me.
After the show, I went to see them.
“If Ava’s body is fixed, Chloe is injured,” my
mother said.
My dad said, “It’s a blessing in disguise, she
agreed to marry Ben now.”
I was useful again.
My parents were nice to me, they even gave me
a key to my home.
I never went back.
Second was Ben and Ryan.
They came backstage, I was in my costume and
<
makeup.
They were both amazed.
Ryan’s face was red. “Are you a real fairy?”
“Soon you’ll have a new mother.”
I looked at Ben, “Congratulations, you guys are getting married.”
Ben said, “Ava, if you want to, I’ll cancel it.”
“Ben, stop joking.”
Ben took out a ring, “Ava, let’s start again,
please?”
“Ben, are you serious?”
Ben said, “I’ve loved you since day one, I even
asked Chloe to give you my love letter, but she
said that I was not your ideal man and she
hated me So I had to stay away”
<
hated me. So I had to stay away.”
I told the assistant to take Ryan away.
“Ben, I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”
“Love is not like that, you don’t have to make
up a story.”
Ben was silent, then finally spoke:
“After being rejected, I tried to make you notice
- me. But, Chloe was there.”
“She’s beautiful and she understands me, so I
fell for her.”
“Isn’t that great?” I asked. “Now you have
everything, so why come back to me?”
Ben smiled. “If I didn’t find this diary, maybe I’d
have moved on.”
He took out a pink notebook.
“Sorry, I found it at your place.”
“Ava…you liked me, right?”
I said nothing.
I had only married Ben to help my family.
But when I fell off the stage, he had rushed up
to help me.
He had stopped the others from touching me
and had called for the ambulance.
When he carried me to the stretcher, I’d seen
his neck.
That was the only safe image I had from that
day.
<
I’d written that in my diary.
How embarrassing.
Ben said, “After we got married, I thought that
you hated me and you only married me for
money, so I treated you like that. It was all my
fault.”
“If I hadn’t believed Chloe, if we had been
together then, would we not have wasted our
time…”
“Ben,” I said, “Those ‘what ifs‘ don’t matter.”
“The one who loved you was 16. I’m 26.”
“What we missed is gone. It’s not about who was wrong.”
“I don’t love you anymore, can you understand me?”
“This whole thing isn’t your style. Don’t make
me, or Ryan, think less of you.”
Ben went pale.
He said sorry, and walked away.
I heard that Ben and Chloe never got married.
Chloe went back to her parents, but she would
get angry and it was too much for them.
Ben would still come with Ryan to see my
performances.
I told the staff not to let them backstage
anymore.
The person who stayed with me was actually a
stranger.
After the show, he came up to me with flowers
and asked me:
く
“Ava, do you remember Lily?”
I nodded.
He sighed and said he was her brother. He was
giving me flowers on her behalf.
I was happy to remember Lily’s smiling face.
“Why isn’t she here herself? I’ll save her the
best seat.”
He shook his head and apologized. She wanted
to come, but she couldn’t.
She passed away half a month ago. She didn’t
make it through the surgery.
Her final wish was to see me on stage.
There was a card on the flowers. It was from
Lily.
<
“Ava, I wasn’t strong enough, but I believe you’ll
go forward for me.”
“Let’s meet again early, in the next life, okay?”
“Your friend, always, Lily.”
…I looked at the last part.
Her handwriting was blurry.
A long time later.
The national tour ended.
I told Liam I applied for a position with a dance group abroad.
I had been accepted, but I had to start from the
bottom.
Liam didn’t understand.
<
“Starting over is too much work.”
…I just stared at him.
Liam’s eyes were getting red. “Are you trying to
avoid me? Is my love that bad?”
I shook my head. “Liam, there is nothing
shameful about love.”
“When I got married, I thought love was the most important thing in the world.”
“But now I’m divorced and I have a child.”
“I still think love is important. It connects me to
every single one of you.”
“But I’ve done the big things, and I’m still not
satisfied.”
“I have so many things to do, besides marriage and love. They can’t stop me anymore.”
<
“I want to walk down the path that I want the
most.”
Liam asked, “How long will you be gone?”
“At least three years.”
Liam was silent, “My grandpa is sick. I can’t go
with you.”
“I’ll go alone.”
“Take care.”
“You too.”
Liam said, “I’m not going to wait.”
I replied, “Okay.‘
“”
We didn’t say anything else.
Tears started to fall.
Liam closed his eyes and hugged me tightly.
“Remember what I said?”
“What?”
“You have 100 chances to reject me.”
Liam wiped his tears and showed me that smile
again.
“Go, Ava.”
“If that’s what you want, then go. Don’t look
back.”
“Because that’s why I like you.”
The End
