Once we’ve reached our destination, I glance around as the truck sits in an empty lot high in the sky.
“Where are we?” I ask, still casting looks trying to find a hint of something to where we are.
“You’ll see.” He lets me go as he gets out, and I unbuckle my seatbelt watching him round the hood and open my door.
Okay, chivalry isn’t dead.
He holds out his hand for me, and I take it because I’ll go anywhere he wants to lead me.
We walk, still hand in hand, to the edge of a cliff. With us being high up, the wind is extra aggressive, and I shiver.
“Shit. Here.” Liem goes to remove his hoodie, but I stop him.
I have on full winter gear but even so, I’m still cold. “Just let me weirdly snuggle into you and we’ll call it even, yeah?”
His throat bobs and for a second, I think he’ll decline my request, but he relaxes pulling me into his body and I melt like a damn snowflake on a warm windshield.
God, he’s so warm.
So hard.
So safe.
His arm closes around my shoulders as I’m tucked into his side.
I finally look down. I’m not afraid of heights but we have to be a hundred feet up. The only thing noticeable are the tracks. And within a few minutes time, I hear a loud whistle in the distance. Before long, the light illuminates the white snow surrounding the heavy machinery. The train is huge and fast, whizzing at the speed of lightning. The whistle goes off every now and again and it’s deafening. My mind doesn’t pay attention to anything except the powerful train below.
Liem stares at it focusing with such intensity I’m not sure anything or anyone can break him from the entrancing spell.
When the end of it soars past, the blaring sound fades into the distance once more. I cast a glance up at Liem who’s still staring off in a comatose state like before outside the diner.
“Liem.” I gently lay a soft touch to his cheek, and he blinks. “Are you with me?” His eyes connect with mine. They’re so lonely. So empty. “What has made you so sad?”
Tears threaten to fall from him, and I pull away to really look at him. “Please. You can tell me. You can talk to me.”
He sucks in a sharp breath and then his tears fall. One by one they fall. My chest hurts from the sight of his pain. If you were to ask me about my most hated vision, it’d be his cry.
His tears falling on my hands are like tiny knives through my chest. And the shudder of his shoulders shakes with so much weight and emotion that I pull him to me and wrap my arms tightly around his body to hopefully help stop the trembling.
As if he can no longer hold up his own body, he falls and I fall with him, both of us landing onto the cold, wet snow. I don’t care that the cold is running up my spine, nor do I care that my leggings are getting soaked, my only concern is Liem.
He cradles himself into me, the stroke of my hand in his hair as he cries with me because I find tears falling down my cheeks too. This time I don’t cry for me, but I cry for him and his pain. The pain I’m unsure of but know it’s a deep cut by the way he’s letting it all go. My arms stay tightly wrapped around him like I’m his lifeline. Like if I let go, he’ll fall into the dark pits of hell without return. I want to keep him above the surface, keep his demons at bay, and not let them overtake him.
The cold doesn’t matter; nothing matters but him. He’s broken in my arms, and I feel entirely helpless.
“She’s everything to me.”
My stomach twists as he pulls away, turning to avoid my gaze. He has a love of his life and my heart just shattered.
“I’ve never talked about this before. To anyone.”
I shiver but ignore it. “You can talk to me. I’m here for you, Liem.”
That earns a look from him, and I peer into his red stained eyes.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
My breath hitches. “What—”
