In the dark, a hand grabbed at the hem of my skirt, and a broken voice, like it had been squeezed from deep within his soul, whispered, "Honey, please don't leave me."
"You can like someone else, even marry someone else, but please don't leave this place, don't leave me in a world without you."
I slowly lifted my head, took a deep, slow breath, and tears broke free from my eyes, rolling down my cheeks like pearls disconnected from their string, falling onto Sebastian's face.
He quickly scrambled to his feet. As the light above us flickered back on, he saw the tear tracks on my face and panicked, reaching out to wipe them away.
"Don't cry. I'm sorry, don't cry..."
I watched his haggard appearance and his reddened eyes. Reaching out, I embraced him. Sebastian froze for a few seconds, then tightened his arms around me, holding me close.
At that moment, the system spoke up again, asking, "Last question, Host: Do you still want to leave this world?" I held back my tears, looking up at the system as I answered, also responding to Sebastian. "I'm not leaving."
Inside the room, Sebastian cried in my arms for what felt like an eternity. His deep and intense emotions reached my ears, his heart full of love that had been building for so long.
Once the sobbing subsided, he whispered softly in my ear, "Happy birthday, honey."
I was almost asleep in his arms, when I muttered in my sleep, "I want to see the sunrise, Sebastian." For those words, he gently lifted me and took me downstairs, then drove a hundred kilometers out to the countryside. When I woke up, it was five in the morning, and I saw the most beautiful sunrise, along with a warm cup of milk he had prepared for me.
I leaned against his shoulder, softly saying, "Sebastian, from our perspective, it always feels like the other person doesn't love us and will slowly fall in love with someone else."
"So, we missed so much time loving each other, like anniversaries, Valentine's Day, and birthdays," he lowered his head in apology. "I'm sorry, it's my fault."
I turned to look at his face, listening to the beat of my own heart, and said, "We may have missed a lot, but we didn't miss the right person."
"My heart never lies, and it never deceives. The one I love is you—and only you."" He pulled me into a tight embrace and repeated it in my ear."
"I love you too, and you're the only one for me."
