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.

fool. I never realized there could be someone in this world just as foolish as me. You know it's not

yourself... for

wrote in your essay that you wanted to be a police

why did you give up on

are you so, so

who've lived it can

became his wife, bore his child, tended to their home-abandoning

his feelings hidden

essays about dreams were just made up to get through

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

wanted to speak, I became a

be a doctor, because only by becoming one

tears slipped down, silent

this world-someone not bound to her by blood-who