Goodbye, Mr. Regret

Herbert gazed at Jessica, his expression uncertain. Was she only thanking him because she wanted to reconcile with Timothy?

"Jess, I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Can you explain it a little more?" he asked gently.

Jessica looked down, her voice soft but steady. "What I mean is, I'm about to divorce him. If I suddenly owed him my life, and something happened to him, I'd feel trapped by that debt. Now that he's safe, I can leave him with a clear conscience."

She patiently laid her feelings bare.

"So you're really set on divorcing him?" Herbert asked.

She nodded. "Yes, I've made up my mind. I don't want to waste another seven years, Herbert..."

This morning, he'd been busy saving Timothy. She hadn't even found a moment to talk to him properly.

She had given seven years of her life to Timothy. She knew too well what it meant to pin all your hopes on someone for that long.

Jessica had sacrificed seven years for Timothy. Herbert, too, had spent seven years—for her—trying to cure her muteness.

lump formed in Jessica's throat, and her nose turned pink. "You're such a fool. I never realized there could

yourself...

a police officer when you grew up. To fight

did you give up on

are you so,

lived

animation, but for Timothy, she gave it up. She stayed home, became his wife, bore his child, tended to

wanted to keep his feelings hidden until after Jessica's

dreams were just made up to get through the assignment..." Herbert murmured, his gaze faltering under Jessica's clear,

now, at this point, if he didn't tell the truth, he'd regret it for the rest of

took a breath. "Because you wanted to speak, I became

town, my dream changed. I wanted to be a doctor, because

tears slipped down,

to her by blood-who loved her