Chapter4

Ten days later, he stayed up all night and finished all his urgent work.

The "Deep Blue" departed from the port of Miami.

The sunlight on the deck was beautiful. Evan rarely put down all his work and sat with me by the pool for an entire afternoon. He even smiled and said he wanted to teach me skydiving, saying we would sign up when we reached the next port.

I looked at him, but I felt a faint sense of unease in my heart.

On the seventh night, the cruise ship sailed into the depths of the high seas.

I leaned against the window of the cabin, preparing to go to sleep. The originally calm starry sky outside the window was suddenly swallowed by a thick, heavy black cloud.

Immediately following was the sound of an alarm.

The moment the giant wave crashed into the hull, I was thrown off the edge of the bed. The lights started flashing wildly, and the chairs, desk lamps, and cups in the cabin all flew out. The floor under my feet began to tilt.

I had a severe fear of the deep sea. At that moment, I was trembling all over. I subconsciously looked back, wanting to find him.

I wanted to grab his hand.

He didn't look at me.

He was stopping a crew member who was running to evacuate. Looking extremely anxious, he reached his hand out and roared:

"Give me paper! And a pen!"

I forced down my panic and looked at him. "What are you going to do with paper and a pen?"

He forced a smile and comforted me. "Don't worry, I am here. My back will support you, just go to sleep. By the time you wake up, the storm will have passed."

My heart was still uneasy. I gently closed my eyes, but I didn't really fall asleep. I slowed my breathing and squinted to watch his every move.

Evan wrote very quickly. But I saw everything clearly.

[Leah, if this is the last moment of my life, the person appearing in my mind will only be you.]

[You are too awful, never willing to behave. When we were young, the first time I saw you, you brought girls to fight with me. Later, when we started acting, in every collaboration, you had to compete with me. On screen and off screen, you were always working against me.]

[But from beginning to end, I never hated you.]

[I surrender. I admit that I love you. You should be happy now.]

After finishing writing, he stuffed that piece of paper into his pants pocket, then slowly closed his eyes, waiting for the outcome of this storm.

I didn't move at all. Only a patch on the pillow slowly became wet.

A few hours later, the ship gradually regained its balance.

The storm finally passed.

The next early morning, sunlight shone in through the porthole. The cruise ship was approaching the port, preparing to resupply.

Evan propped himself up from the bed, his face still pale. He looked at me, reached out to pull me into his arms, rested his chin on my shoulder, and let out a long breath.

"That scared me to death." His voice was a bit hoarse. "Thank God I had you with me all along."

I didn't say anything.

He let go of me, stood up, and got dressed. As he dressed, he turned back to smile at me. "Once the ship docks, I'll get off and buy you something. There's a bakery at the port, and you said before that you wanted to eat their coconut bread. I'll go buy it for you."

"Wait for me here."

He turned around and walked out, his footsteps brisk.

I watched his back disappear at the cabin door.

It turned out that at the very moment of facing death, he wasn't thinking of me at all.

I stood up, changed into clean clothes, took off my wedding ring, placed it on the desk, and walked out.

An hour later, I sat in the airport waiting lounge, clutching a one-way ticket to Paris in my hand.

A woman next to me was on a phone call, smiling as she said to the other end, "I am boarding now." I lowered my head and buried my face in my palms. After a long time, the broadcast sounded. I stood up, wiped my face with my sleeve, and walked into the boarding gate.

I never thought about seeing him again.

Nor did I plan to see him again.