Chapter 24
[Side Story: Danny]
In his memories, the girl was learning to ride a bike when she crashed into Danny’s flower bed.
Her pretty pale face was covered in mud: “I’m so sorry! I’ll replace the flowers I messed up.”
Danny was already in middle school then and didn’t have time for elementary school kids.
He just coldly said: “Don’t bother.”
But the next spring, the girl showed up at his window with cute little pigtails and a pink dress, peeking out from behind an armful of bright flowers.
The spring breeze was blowing, and Danny’s heart nearly stopped.
f he had to pinpoint when he fell for her, it was right then.
le secretly loved her for ten full years. First he thought she was too young, so he’d wait until high school.
High school was too important, so he’d wait until she went to college.
When she got to college, he was waiting for the right moment. He waited and waited-until Blake showed up.
le often wondered if things would have been different if he’d been braver back then.
ut there are no “what ifs” in this world.
tella disappeared from his life for five whole years.
e knew she had leukemia, but not where she went, or if she was even still alive.
e remembered watching a movie with her once called “Go Away, Mr. Tumor.”
Then the main character recorded her final video, Stella cried her eyes out.
y the end, she was wiping her tears on his shirt.
Danny, if that day ever comes for me, I want to be in hospice care. I just want to go peacefully.”
e thought, if Stella ever came back to Riverside, if she reached that final stage…
he would definitely go to a hospice center.
o he opened this end-of-life care facility.
le understood her stubborn ass, knew she didn’t want him seeing her at rock bottom.
ut he had his own selfish reasons-he wanted to be there for her final exit.
he day Stella died, he kept asking: “Stella, any regrets? Anything you want to say before you go?”
n that moment, he was dying for her to tell him:
If we get another shot at life, Danny, I’d pick you.”
But what she actually said was about Blake: “If he crashes and burns, make him get therapy. Make him forget me completely.”
Right then, Danny finally got it.
Love isn’t just about having the balls to speak up.
His voice cracked as he promised: “I will.”
Five years after Stella died, he finally decided to move on.
He caved to his family’s pressure and agreed to an arranged marriage.
His wife was cool as hell-even after they got hitched, she’d drag him to bars, saying that way her parents couldn’t give her shit about it.
She was crazy thoughtful too, always tuned into his moods.
By year three, Danny couldn’t tell if what he felt was love, but he tried his best to be good to her. Better than good.
In year five, she got pregnant, but also found his lockbox full of unsent love letters.
she didn’t flip out or make a scene, Just quietly tucked the box away for him.
First love?” she asked.
Danny didn’t see the point in lying. If he’d moved on, he shouldn’t need to hide it.
Crush I never acted on.”
She’s dead now. Never even told her how I felt.”
lis wife rubbed his back: “Danny, that ship has sailed.”
es, it was all in the past.
le hadn’t stayed frozen in place. He was moving forward just like she’d wanted.
e looked at the love journal with its yellowed cover, where he’d written in childish handwriting-
Il tell Stella how I feel when she turns 18.
ummer, cicadas singing, a boy in a blue and white uniform sitting under a desk lamp, heart pounding as he wrote those words.
he memory was still so clear.
ut there was no going back.
le picked up a pen and wrote a final entry-
hings and people we can’t help but cling to, even when we know it’s pointless-everyone has something like that.
ut the page had turned.
tella, our story has to turn the page too.
