The year they parted, the land stretched vast between them, and neither heard from the other again.
Bearing a body marked by wounds, she disappeared into a coastal town. Alone, she endured ten months of pregnancy and the loneliness of raising a child, burying all her worries and grievances in the sea breeze and passing years.
Ten years later, in early winter, the evening breeze turned cool, and someone from her past suddenly returned.
He had searched mountains and rivers for years, weighed down by guilt and all he owed her. All he wanted was to stay quietly by her side and slowly make up for the time they had lost.
Walls around her heart had risen, and love and resentment were hard to reconcile.
She could not forget the hardships she had endured alone, nor escape the bond with the child who shared her blood.
He understood her stubbornness and knew her pain. He stayed close but never intruded, gentle and restrained. He did not cling or pressure her, only seeking to spend the rest of his life making amends for the past.
The sea breeze of one city could not blow away the regrets of years gone by.
One winter encounter rekindled a love that would last a lifetime.
Some chances are missed for ten years.
Some reunions, in the end, make the passage of time and the love they once had worthwhile.
