CHAPTER 209: WHEREVER YOU GO THAT’S WHERE I’LL FOLLOW

The lamp burned low.

Its flame trembled in the darkness, casting faint golden light across the small hut. The shadows stretched long, and the warmth between them was the only thing that seemed to keep the night from turning completely cold.

They lay side by side, skin to skin beneath the rough linen blanket, their bodies molded together as if they had always been this way.

Zhao Yan’s chest rose and fell steadily, but Hua Jing’s eyes remained open.

She turned slightly on the mat, resting her cheek against her hand, watching the faint silhouette of his face in the dying lamplight. His brows were relaxed. His lips slightly parted. His features softened in sleep, but even now, there was a tension buried deep in the line of his jaw.

He looked peaceful.

But not at peace.

Her fingers traced a gentle path across the edge of his arm, and after a moment, his eyes opened.

"Can’t sleep?" he asked, voice husky from rest.

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she whispered, "Tomorrow changes everything."

He turned toward her, the corners of his mouth lifting faintly. "It does."

There was a long pause. The silence wasn’t empty—it was full of all the words they hadn’t yet spoken, all the fears they hadn’t yet dared to name.

"What if we die?" she said softly. "What do you think happens then?"

Zhao Yan studied her, his hand finding hers under the blanket and curling around it. "We won’t."

"How do you know?"

"I don’t," he admitted. "But I refuse to believe we’ve come this far... just to lose everything now."

His words were strong, but even he couldn’t hide the hesitation behind them.

The fear was there, low and quiet, winding its way between their ribs.

Hua Jing’s heart clenched.

They had faced so much—loss, betrayal, war, memory, even death—but tomorrow... tomorrow was different. Tomorrow would demand something final. One wrong step, and everything could be lost.

She turned onto her back, staring up at the wooden ceiling above.

"Do you miss it?" she asked after a while.

Zhao Yan blinked, his brows dipping. "Miss what?"

She turned her head slightly. "The other world. Do you miss it?"

He stared at her for a moment, then turned onto his side, propping his head up with one hand so he could see her better.

"To be honest," he said, "it’s half and half."

"Half how?"

"In that world," he began slowly, "we weren’t... this. We weren’t together. Not really. And you—" his eyes clouded a bit—"you hated me. For a mistake I made."

Hua Jing’s breath caught.

"It wasn’t hate," she whispered. "It was hurt."

"I know," he said gently. "We talked about it. We moved past it. But sometimes, even now, I remember the way you used to look at me. Like I was your greatest mistake."

He remembered it quite clearly. Whenever they met at events and all, she would gaze at him coldly all while being smiles with the others.

She had also refused to work with him no matter what and that put a great pain in his heart

He had thought the two of them would never get together in this life but life seemed to have a different plan for them.

She turned to face him again, her hand reaching for his cheek. "You weren’t."

Now that she remembers as well, she had been deeply hurt by the words he said back then only because she had liked him so much

Getting hurt from the people you liked hit quite different.

"I was afraid," he continued, "that if we went back... we’d forget everything that’s happened here. This life. This place. You and me—like this. What if we forget? What if it fades away like a dream?"

This had been his biggest fear ever since they showed up in this place. He was afraid that it was some sort of dream and once they woke up the reality would be too different.

Her fingers brushed his jaw. "Even in another world... in another life... I would find you."

He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in her words.

"In this world and the other," she said softly, "I’ve loved you in both. So how could I forget?"

She loved him like crazy, madly— she never wanted to be apart even for a while.

She had tasted his love and it was the greauthing ever so how could she not find him?

Zhao Yan opened his eyes, his throat tight. "Then I guess it’s fate."

She smiled, eyes glistening.

He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to her forehead, then whispered, "If we ever go back... let’s not waste time. Let’s not hesitate. Let’s find each other immediately."

She nodded. "No second-guessing. No waiting."

"I can’t... I can’t take another lifetime of being apart from you."

They fell quiet again, the heaviness of what might come pressing gently into their silence.

"Do you think we’ll remember?" she asked, softer now.

"I don’t know," he answered. "But even if I forget your name... even if I forget everything else... I think something in me would still recognize you."

He reached for her hand beneath the covers and brought it to his lips.

"I think I’d fall in love with you all over again."

Her throat tightened with emotion. "You always say things that make it hard to breathe."

"I mean every word."

The silence that followed was softer now. Not full of dread, but full of longing. Of love that had weathered time and war and loss.

The lantern gave a final flicker before the flame died, plunging the room into the gentle darkness of midnight.

They didn’t need the light.

They had each other.

She curled closer into his arms, her hand resting over his heart.

And as she drifted off, she whispered the one truth that would anchor her until morning.

"No matter where we are, I’ll find you."

And his answer, just before sleep claimed him, was the one promise he would carry even into death.

"I’ll be waiting."