hapter 10
He overheard her saying to a friend, “My biggest dream is to create a game that makes
people happy.”
He held onto that thought.
Once, while borrowing a book in the library, he finally entered her line of sight. She thought
it was a chance encounter, but he’d planned it all along.
They gradually grew closer, and she developed feelings for him too.
A confession game he’d coded himself, working through sleepless nights, finally brought them together.
On the day she completed the game, Linda had told him-
“Ivan, I want a love that’s undivided. As long as you stay, I’ll never leave you…”
She stood under a tree, dressed in white, with sunlight casting a soft golden glow around
her.
She looked like a goddess shining light into his abyss.
He thought-
I will love her forever.
His pillow was soaked with tears.
Ivan sobbed, his body trembling as he jolted awake from the dream.
A throbbing pain pounded in his temples, and the remnants of the dream felt as vivid as reality.
He wiped his face, looking at his palm smeared with dampness, a hollow laugh escaping from deep in his chest.
“Linda.”
Ling the Years of Longing
25.6%
Chapter 10
“You broke your promise.”
“You promised you’d never leave me, never abandon me…”
He crawled out of bed, stumbling and searching every corner of the house, hoping for some hint of her presence.
But there was nothing left, nothing at all.
He slumped into the chair in his study, letting himself collapse backward in exhaustion.
Suddenly-
He noticed an unfamiliar USB drive on the desk.
A spark of hope flickered in Ivan’s eyes.
He lunged forward, grabbing the USB drive, and eagerly tried to plug it into his computer.
His hands were trembling so violently that it took him several attempts to succeed.
Finally, it connected.
He clicked the files open, one after another, in desperate anticipation.
“I knew it. I knew Linda wouldn’t leave me. She must have…”
The file opened, and suddenly, a photo of him and Katherine kissing filled the screen.
He sat there as if struck by lightning, frozen before the monitor.
After a moment, he frantically clicked through image after image, each one of him and
Katherine, every message captured.
“No… no, that’s not how it is, Linda shouldn’t know, who sent these to her, who?!”
His mind was a chaotic mess, his breathing rapid, his eyes filling with rage.
Crash!
15.19
Forsaking the Years of Longing
25.79
Ivan threw the computer to the ground, the screen shattering into pieces
Still trembling, he felt his entire body drain of strength, slumping to the floor, utterly
defeated.
