17 Chapter 17
After dealing with Krista, he couldn’t stand the thought of losing contact with Sherry. He went back to Emma’s place, hoping to find out where Sherry had gone. When she refused, he didn’t give up. He started waiting downstairs from her apartment every
day.
Seeing that I wasn’t fighting his touch, a flicker of hope ignited in Albert’s chest. Maybe she was just angry. If he could just explain everything properly, she would forgive him.
For twenty years, Sherry had followed him.
When a colleague told me I had a visitor, I was surprised. I’d only given the address to a handful of people, and I had just left Portland.
Albert knew his past actions had hurt me deeply, which was why I was rejecting him so fiercely. But he was willing to use time, to use everything he had, to make it up to me.
Albert and Sherry had been in the same program at college.
That same day, Albert hired a lawyer to file for an annulment from Krista on the grounds of marriage fraud, giving her a sum of money for an abortion.
Using the address from an old classmate, Albert easily found the research center. The first project hadn’t started yet, so the facility wasn’t on lockdown. He asked someone who was just returning from outside to help him find Sherry.
I was still reeling from the shock of seeing him, and his barrage of questions left me speechless, unable to pull away.
“Why did you break up with me?” he demanded, his voice cracking. “Why did you just leave without a word? Do you have any idea how hard I’ve been looking for you?!”
His eyes reddened the moment he saw me. The tension that had held him together seemed to snap, and he grabbed my wrist.
Returning to the home they had shared for five years, he felt a bone-deep chill on the bed where they had slept together. There was no one to bring him water when he was sick, no one to call his name, no one to leave a light on for him when he came home late.
16 DE
When he woke, Albert couldn’t distinguish dream from reality. He instinctively called Sherry’s name, but only the chirping of sparrows answered. He touched his pillow; it was damp with tears.
“And you don’t find it ridiculous saying that now?”
Albert’s desperate calls followed me, but I didn’t look back.
Albert couldn’t wait any longer. He asked a security guard and learned that the first project had already begun. No one was allowed to leave until it was completed.
But when his eyes fell on the bright red word “done” on the whiteboard, his thoughts
cleared.
Puzzled, I walked outside and saw him. Albert.
“How long is the project?” Albert asked desperately.
き
He started contacting old professors and alumni. After countless calls, he learned that she had joined the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.
In his dream, none of the past few weeks had happened.
“My position is clear: we are over.”
Who could it be?
He curled into a ball on the bed, seeking a warmth that no longer existed, and finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
Sherry’s resolute breakup, the misunderstanding about his mother’s savior-it all swirled in his mind, leaving him lost.
“Sherry, the person I love is you.”
Now, the roles were reversed. He would follow her. This time, he would prove his love.
Unfortunately for him, his optimism was short-lived. I yanked my hand away, my expression impatient.
I shot him a look of pure scorn.
He didn’t want to break up with Sherry. Even if she had to be at the research center for a year and a half, he would wait.
TR:08
I had no desire to get tangled up with him again. I turned and walked back into the research center. The project started tomorrow, and I had a lot to prepare.
In five years together, it was the first time he had ever said he loved me. But those five years had been so devoid of happiness that I knew better than to trust such empty
words.
He and Sherry had their beautiful wedding, got their license the next day, and became husband and wife. They went on their honeymoon, traveling all over Europe and taking pictures at every landmark.
“What are you doing here?”
After a few days, Emma, thoroughly annoyed, told him only that Sherry was at a research center in Seattle but refused to give him the specific address.
“I don’t know how you found my address, but please don’t contact me again. The project starts tomorrow, and I want to focus on my work. You should go back.”
But days turned into a week, and Sherry never appeared.
Though he had no concrete proof she was there, Albert’s gut told him this was it. He bought a plane ticket and flew out immediately.
Numbly, Albert flew back to Portland.
“I don’t want to hear it,” I cut him off.
Albert’s eyes filled with determination. He would wait for Sherry to come back.
The guard replied, “About a year and a half.”
He checked into a hotel near the center, thinking that Sherry couldn’t stay inside forever. He would see her again eventually.
“Sherry, I came to apologize. I—”
My recoil sent a fresh wave of panic across his face.
