Short Story | In the End, We Parted Without a Word

“For so many years, you have lived in my wounds. I could let go of heaven and earth, but I have never let go of you. Through all the mountains and rivers of my life, I have watched you say goodbye to each one. In this world, aside from life and death, what else truly matters?”

She stared blankly at these few lines of love poetry by Tsangyang Gyatso, tears blurring her vision.

Even if they met again, they might not recognize each other. Though so many years had passed, she still could not let him go.

That autumn day, when the maple leaves had turned red, she went hiking with him and several colleagues. She slipped and fell, and the only name she blurted out was his. At the time, she and he had only recently become colleagues and were just getting to know each other. Besides, he had a fiancée, and she knew it.