Lawrence let the biting wind rush over his face, the dried tears on his cheeks feeling as sharp as ice.
Heaven had truly shown him mercy. He had returned to this pivotal moment before the worst had happened. He had the power to undo every agonizing mistake that had ruined their lives.
Taking a deep breath, Lawrence steadied his racing heart. In his past life, he had waited right here for Bonnie. But swallowed by pride from their argument and paralyzed by the tension between his lover and his family, he had cowardly stayed in the car. Seeing her cry had terrified him, and lacking the courage to comfort her, he had spent the entire night outside.
And then came the phone call about Hannah's accident.
Not this time.
Leaning against the car, Lawrence waited for about five minutes before a painfully familiar silhouette appeared around the street corner.
In that instant, a lump formed in his throat, and hot tears spilled over his lashes.
It was his nineteen-year-old Bonnie. The girl he had failed and lost.
Lawrence hastily wiped his face. A rapid succession of memories hit him—Bonnie chasing him through the airport all the way to the US; Bonnie drunk in his arms as he pressed sobbing kisses to her left ear; their bittersweet goodbye in the snows of Silvania; raising their dog June together in Oasinia; and their absolute rebirth beneath the snowy peaks of Highvale.
Finally, flashes of their wedding, the birth of their son, the passing of their elders, and a lifetime spent holding hands until their hair turned gray. An entire century of love flashed by in mere seconds.
The dizzying montage settled onto the present reality: the young woman standing before him, aggressively wiping her tears as she choked on her own sobs.
Bonnie walked with her head down, completely unaware of his presence. The tips of her snow boots were caked in slush, the melted snow leaving dark, damp stains.
The dirty slush made Bonnie, who was usually so incredibly neat and put-together, look tragically defeated.
Lawrence suddenly felt a violent urge to slap his twenty-one-year-old self across the face.
He wanted to grab his past self by the collar and scream, 'How could you sit in that damn car and watch your Candie suffer like this?'

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