Secretly Watching Over Her

Chapter 11: Next To You

Two years had passed since the day Orm's world crumbled, since the moment she lost Ling on that operating table. The passage of time had done little to ease the pain; it only dulled the sharp edges, leaving a lingering ache in her heart. Life had moved on around her—people had come and gone, seasons had changed—but for Orm, the world remained frozen in that moment of loss.

She stood now at Ling's grave, the cool breeze rustling the leaves of the nearby trees. The cemetery was quiet, the only sound the distant chirping of birds and the soft rustle of the wind. Orm looked down at the headstone, her heart heavy with the weight of everything she had never said, of all the moments they would never share.

The inscription on the grave was simple, elegant, just like Ling had been. Orm's fingers traced the letters, her mind flooded with memories—Ling's smile, the way her eyes would light up when she was excited about something, the sound of her laughter that had always made Orm's heart skip a beat.

"Sometimes when we love someone, it doesn't mean we have to be in a relationship with them," Orm whispered, her voice soft, almost as if she were afraid to disturb the silence. "But sometimes... sometimes I wish I had more time with you."

Her words hung in the air, echoing in the emptiness around her. Orm had told herself these things countless times over the past two years, trying to make sense of the loss, trying to convince herself that maybe, just maybe, this was how it was meant to be. But every time she came here, every time she stood before Ling's grave, the same thoughts plagued her mind. What if they had been given more time? What if she had told Ling how she felt before it was too late?

Orm sighed deeply, her heart aching with the weight of her unspoken feelings. She knelt down, placing a small bouquet of white lilies at the base of the headstone. They had been Ling's favorite, a fact Orm had learned during one of their many late-night conversations, back when they had been just two people navigating the chaos of their lives, unsure of where they stood with each other.

"I thought we had forever," Orm continued, her voice trembling as she spoke. "I thought we'd have all the time in the world to figure things out, to... to finally say the things we never said. But I was wrong. Time was never on our side."

She closed her eyes, the memories flooding back—memories of the last time she saw Ling alive, of the blood, the chaos, and the panic that had consumed her when she realized Ling was slipping away. Those memories had haunted her every day since then, a constant reminder of everything she had lost.

"If I could go back, I'd do everything differently," Orm whispered, her hands clenching into fists as she fought to keep her emotions in check. "I wouldn't have waited. I wouldn't have let fear hold me back. I would have told you... that I loved you. I would have made sure you knew, Ling."

Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision as she looked at the grave. "But now... now all I have are regrets and a heart full of 'what-ifs.' What if I had been braver? What if I had told you how I felt sooner? Would things have turned out differently? Would you still be here with me?"

Orm wiped at her eyes, but the tears kept coming, spilling over and streaming down her cheeks. She had thought she had cried all her tears over the past two years, but standing here, in front of Ling's grave, it felt like the wound was as fresh as the day she lost her.

"I miss you so much, Ling," Orm said, her voice cracking as she spoke. "There's not a day that goes by where I don't think about you, where I don't wish I could turn back time and change everything."

Her mind drifted to the night she found Ling's phone. It had been a few weeks after the funeral, when she was finally able to bring herself to go through Ling's belongings. She had hesitated at first, not wanting to disturb the things that had once belonged to her, but something had drawn her to the phone, as if Ling had left it there for her to find.