Faded Echoes || LINGORM ✓

CHAPTER 13

Ling's Point of View

I felt held captive, fixed to the spot as if invisible chains were holding me to the ground. My eyes did not look away from her, but my brain, numbed, did not help with anything. I seemed to be filled with a buzz of all the nerves in my body, yet I couldn't think of anything, not even say anything.

The cold sweat on my palms only heightened the tension gnawing at me. This moment—this very second—was light-years away from that first meeting between us. For back then, she was already drunk, caught in the fuddle of a drunkard's drunkenness. This time, she was soberly awake, so was I.

The air around us crackled with an undeniable tension, thick and almost suffocating. I wanted to say something, anything, but my throat refused to cooperate. The words remained trapped, a heavy weight in my chest. I was too stunned, too overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation to speak.

I wanted to run away. I wanted to escape this stifling moment that had turned my limbs heavy with paralysis. And yet my mind was protesting and screaming even more loudly for me to remain there, to open my mouth, to ask all the questions that tormented me all these years.

My breath was shallow now; I was quickening with each second. The warmth was growing inside my chest; my heart sounded deafening inside my ears.

"L-Ling." Her voice, soft yet steady, broke through the noise in my head. The sound of my name, uttered by her lips for the second time, was the jolt I needed to snap me back into reality.

I swallowed hard, trying to get myself together, my eyes automatically looking away from hers. I needed air. I needed space. But my feet felt like they were glued to the spot, unable to move even an inch.

What the hell do I do now?

The crowd around us felt far off, their eyes on us, some taking pictures, but that weight of gaze no longer mattered. I'd grown accustomed to it, really—to the attention, to the scrutiny. But this was different. This was her. And that alone left me shaken.

Orm took one step forward. I jerked back, taking a step backward, my heart thudding with the pain of the vulnerability I saw flash across her eyes. It was only there for an instant, a fleeting thing to be masked instantly by uncertainty and hesitation. And yet the hope in her eyes, hope that I would permit her to speak to me, contrasted with wariness, the fear of rejection.

"I... Orm..." I managed to whisper her name, barely audible, as if speaking it aloud would break something inside me forever.

Shit, this is harder than I thought.

The distance was minuscule between us, yet the gulf of unsaid words, of lingering feelings, became unattainable. My heart thumped inside my chest at a battle of emotions I could not halt. My every thought, every question in my head, became blurred, as if someone had scrambled up everything to make this moment just unbearable.

"H-How are you?" she asked, her voice slicing through the thick silence. The question, so simple, seemed absurd to me in this moment.

I wanted to laugh, but it was a bitter laugh, one born of frustration. Couldn't she see? Didn't she know what this moment was? The weight of everything that had been left unsaid, left unresolved, was pressing in from all sides.

I could feel anger bubbling beneath my skin, an urge to lash out, but I couldn't. I couldn't even move. I couldn't even run from this.

I cleared my throat, forcing myself to respond. "Good." My voice was flat, detached. I couldn't bring myself to ask her how she was. Not now. Not when every fiber of my being was screaming at me to just get away, to run from this overwhelming pain.

"I... I have to go," I said. The words just came out before I could hold them back. I forced a strained smile. It didn't quite reach my eyes. I gripped the hem of my coat, its fabric twisting in my trembling fingers.

I turned my back on her, almost stumbling in the process. Finally, I could move. Finally, I was free from the crushing weight of the moment. But it wasn't relief. It was a rush to escape, a desperate need to get away from the woman who, despite everything, still held the power to break me.

As I took a step, my breath hitched. Tears welled in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not here. Not in front of her.

Don't let her see you break, Ling.

I breathed slowly, wanting to slow my galloping heartbeat. I looked up at the moon, now full and bright in the darkened sky, and stars blinking like fireflies across the horizon. They were lovely, but no matter, they couldn't ease the storm within me.

I started moving forward. Not looking back at her. Once because I feared if I turned, I'd disintegrate before her. And I wasn't going to allow her to witness this. Not when I wasn't even aware how broken I really was.

I gripped the car key with my white knuckles as I walked to my car and wished for some sort of inner strength to be able to take those final few feet without imploding.

But then, I felt it. Her hand, warm and familiar, curling around my wrist. The electric shock that shot through me almost made my knees buckle.

Fuck.

I froze, my entire body going rigid at the contact.

"C-Can we talk? J-Just for a minute," she whispered, her voice tentative, unsure.

I didn't turn. I couldn't. My body screamed at me to turn and face her, to hear her out, but I knew it wasn't the right time. Not when I was so close to losing control.

"I don't have time for casual talk." My voice was cold and detached, and I didn't care. I couldn't care less. Not when everything inside me was on the verge of shattering.

I tugged my wrist free from her grasp and opened the door to my car. The engine roared to life, the sound a welcome distraction to what happened with me speeding toward my penthouse with my heart still pounding painfully in my chest.

I bit my lip, fighting back the sobs that threatened to break free.

I thought I could handle this. I thought I could face her, confront everything we’d left unsaid. But I was wrong.

The wound was still fresh, still bleeding—just hidden beneath the surface. And no matter how far I ran, I couldn’t escape the pain.