Chapter 609 Extra 1 Seeing the World for Him

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    +8 Pearls

    The cemetery on the outskirts of the city was silent beneath a thick, overcast sky. Heavy clouds hung low like they were holding back a flood, but no rain had fallen yet.

    The air was heavy and still. The whole graveyard felt suffocated under that pressure.

    Winston and Jean stood in front of a tombstone, their faces solemn.

    The grave had been made just for Dalton.

    His body had never been found. It was an empty tomb, filled only with a few of his belongings. On the headstone, his face had been engraved clearly–handsome, bright, and unmistakably him.

    Jean stood quietly, lips pressed together, staring at the photo for a long time without saying a word.

    She hadn’t been able to keep the truth from Winston.

    For a while, she had considered it. Maybe it would’ve been better to let him believe Dalton was still out there somewhere in the world, living a quiet life, unreachable but alive. Maybe that lie would have been kinder.

    But Dalton wasn’t just some friend. He had been there for Winston when no one else was. He had walked with him through his darkest years. He mattered.

    And before he died, he had left her words–words meant for Winston.

    She couldn’t bury those too. She couldn’t lock them away in her heart and keep them there forever.

    So, in the end, she told him everything.

    Winston had broken down.

    He had sat there in silence, eyes wide and empty, tears sliding down his face without a sound.

    “He really said… he didn’t hate me?”

    His voice had cracked. He looked like

    he didn’t dare believe it.

    Jean nodded. “He died to save us. He never hated you.”

    Winston dropped his gaze and didn’t respond. Jean stepped closer, unsure of how he was doing, only to see that the man who had always seemed so proud and distant was crying, shoulders shaking, breath catching in quiet sobs he couldn’t control.

    She had never seen him like that. Never seen him truly fall apart.

    Afterward, the two of them decided to build this tombstone for Dalton. If they couldn’t give him a proper burial, then at least they could give him a ce to rest.

    Today, they came to visit him.

    Jean ced a fresh bouquet at the foot of the grave. The color broke the monotony of the stone and bsky/b. adding a little warmth to the cold scene.

    Neither of them spoke. The sit between them was not awkward, but heavy, Familiar. Both of them

    09:42 Sunb, /b31 Aug

    Chapter 609 Extra 1 Seeing the World for Him

    stood there, carrying their thoughts quietly.

    Then Winston said, out of nowhere, “I want to travel abroad for a while.”

    Jean didn’t look surprised. “To clear your head?”

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    He shook his head slowly. “Dalton told me once he wanted to see the world. He said he wanted to see the northern lights. Giraffes. All kinds of things.”

    His eyes darkened a little, filled with something softer than sorrow. “But he never got the chance. Then he got sick, and after that it was impossible.”

    He turned to face her. His voice didn’t change, but there was a light in his eyes she hadn’t seen in a long time.

    “I want to go in his ce,” he said. “I want to see everything he couldn’t.”

    Jean nodded. “If he knew that, I think it would make him very happy.”

    Winston did leave. He traveled for several months.

    He sent photos–so many photos. The shimmering auroras dancing in the night sky. Giraffes and elephants roaming across the grasnds. Blue oceans so bright they looked like polished stones. Castles that looked like they belonged in a fairy tale.

    The whole trip was for Dalton. But in the process, it became something else too.

    Winston smiled more. Laughed more. He looked alive in a way she hadn’t seen since long before Dalton’s death.

    It was a journey for Dalton, yes.

    But it was also Winston’s way of healing.

    Jean hoped he could carry that feeling with him forever.

    iStay /ihappyi, /iiPlease/i. iStay /iihappy/ii. /i