Chapter 26
“Norah…”
“My condolences.”
“Do not despair.”
Standing before the grave, Norah stared blankly at the tombstone, her eyes empty and devoid of life.
Her comrades tried to comfort her. They all understood the risks of being narcotics officers, as one wrong move could mean the annihilation of an entire family.
Not long ago, Norah’s entire family had been murdered by drug lords. Arriving too late, she didn’t even get the chance to see them one last time.
And now, the person she loved the most had also died at the hands of those same drug lords. Justin had been brutally beaten to death right before her eyes while trying to protect her. During the autopsy, the doctor said that every bone in Justin’s body had been shattered. His kidneys were even ruptured. The pain he must have endured was unimaginable.
Yet, in his final moments, he smiled upon hearing her say that she loved him.
This made Norah hate herself with an unbearable intensity. Only now did she finally understand the agony Justin had felt when he thought she had died.
Her body began to tremble, tears spilling from her hollow eyes. At first, she whimpered, but soon, her grief exploded into uncontrollable sobs. “Justin!”
She collapsed heavily to her knees before his grave. Her sorrow was so deep that it was heartbreaking to witness.
No one disturbed her. They quietly left, allowing Norah to clutch the cold tombstone as she cried helplessly in solitude.
When Jeremy came to pay his respects the next day, Norah was no longer there.
From then on, Norah threw herself into mission after mission, adopting countless identities. She met many people who tried to court her, but she only ever responded with a fleeting smile. That was until one day when she was shot and gravely wounded. The doctors did everything they could to save her, yet nothing could stop the life from slipping away.
Norah was finally going to die.
At that thought, an unexpected sense of relief washed over her.
Under the cover of night, while the nurses were distracted, she slipped out of the hospital and made her way to Justin’s grave. For the first time in what felt like forever, she felt at peace.
Slowly, she leaned against the tombstone as if she were resting against her lover. “I’m here to keep you company, Justin.”
Smiling, she closed her eyes, letting the snowfall envelop her.
“I’m sorry. I love you. I kept you waiting for too long.”
Endless snow blanketed the world in a pure, untainted white.
By morning, when the nurses discovered Norah was missing, they immediately notified the police. They searched every corner of the hospital but found no trace of her.
It was only at Justin’s grave that they finally found her frozen. Yet, she looked at peace, as if merely sleeping with a serene smile resting on her lips.
Everyone’s hearts seized with sorrow at the sight of her. No one said a word. They all knew what had happened back then.
Norah’s father had been an undercover officer, and as a result, her entire family had been wiped out, leaving only Norah alive. To escape the drug lords hunting her, she had been forced to leave Justin behind without telling him the truth.
When they finally met again, love and hatred had already twisted into something unrecognizable within them.
Justin, feeling abandoned, had hurt Norah again and again, desperately trying to find some proof that she had once loved him. But all he ever received was yet another abandonment- Norah’s supposed death.
It wasn’t until the very end that he finally learned the truth from her own lips.
And now, in death, Norah had found her own release.
Was it all worth it?
Looking at the smile the lifeless Norah had on, no one could say. From the very beginning, this was a story fated to have no answers.
“I hope you both find a burden–free afterlife.
“No more blood feuds to carry, no more painful deceptions, and no more regrets. No more losing each other when you loved the hardest.”
With those final blessings, everyone quietly departed.
The snow continued to fall, but here, there would be no more sorrowful lovers.
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