He Gave Her Strawberries, Gave Me Hives (Ford and Sylvia) novel Chapter 127

He was more mature and steady than he had been five years ago. The way he looked at Stella was filled with unconcealed love and pride.

He handed her the bouquet, then naturally put his arm around her waist and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Jnder the spotlight, Stella smiled and leaned into his embrace. The matching platinum wedding bands on both their ring fingers glinted in the light, a happy nd dazzling sight.

he audience erupted once more in warm applause and cheers of congratulations.

Young Frost looked up at his father and whispered, “Dad, that lady is so pretty. Is she a star?”

*elix didn’t answer. He just stared at the perfect couple on stage, his heart feeling as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand, the pain so intense he could >arely breathe. He subconsciously touched the empty space on his own ring finger, where only a faint, time–worn indentation remained.

n the end, even his status as a “bystander” seemed so superfluous and pathetic.

He didn’t wait for the concert to completely finish. He took his son’s hand and quietly left the bustling Golden Hall, disappearing into the cold Vienna night.

A few days later, back in the city.

*elix drove alone to the long–abandoned mountaintop park on the outskirts of the city. This was where he had confessed his feelings to Stella when he was

ixteen.

The park was no longer what it once was. It was overgrown with weeds, the facilities were in ruins, and the cherry tree where they had carved their names had ong since died, its bare branches stubbornly pointing to the gray sky.

He walked to the dead tree and reached out to touch its rough, cracked bark. It was cold to the touch.

The cold wind howled past, swirling the dead leaves on the ground.

*elix leaned against the cold trunk and closed his eyes, feeling as if he had traveled back in time.

fe could almost see that sunny afternoon again, see the sixteen–year–old Stella in her crisp white school uniform, her hair in a high ponytail, her smile so >right it could melt snow, chasing her classmates playfully under the tree.

And he saw himself, also sixteen, awkward and proud, his ears red, mustering all the courage he had ever possessed to run up and block her path.

‘St… Stella! I… I like you! Go out with me!”

In that moment, a boy’s love was pure, ardent, believing that one glance could last an eternity.

Tears, without warning, streamed down Felix’s weathered face. They were hot, but they couldn’t warm his long frozen heart.

He made no sound, just let the tears flow freely, as if trying to cry out half a lifetime of regret and sorrow.

The boy who said he would love her for a lifetime had died long ago, killed by his own choices and the pain he had caused. And the girl he had lost, after enduring a long, dark night, had finally cut through the thorns and walked towards her own distant place, a place full of blooming flowers.

The wind still blew, the dead leaves swirling at his feet.

Finally, he slowly opened his eyes. Through his blurry, tear–filled vision, he looked at the hazy silhouette of the city in the distance. His expression was complex, unreadable, but eventually settled into a silent, resigned calm.

He had lost her.

Lost her forever.

30-12

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