Ch. He Put My Ring On Her Finger At 3 AM 11 He Put My Ring On Her Finger At 3 AM 11

Chapter 11 

The day the divorce decree came down, Iceland was buried in a heavy snowstorm. 

Shepherd sent me the electronic file. I stared at it for a very long time. Nora Wright and Julian Pierce-marriage dissolved. 

One short line. Eight years of my youth, nailed into a stamped and sealed archive, taking effect as a closed case. 

That night, Julian sent me one last email. No salutation, and no signature. 

Nora, 

Today I went to the theater where your mother used to perform. I sat in the last row and watched a 

very ordinary play. 

When the show ended, I suddenly remembered something you once told me that every time your 

mother took her curtain call, she would first look toward the left side of the audience, because 

when you were little, you always sat there waiting for her. 

I never truly listened before. 

I’m sorry. 

I found the earring. Iris had left it behind in the styling room. A cleaner mistook it for ordinary costume jewelry and tossed it into a junk bag. It took me three days of searching before I finally 

found it. 

I’ve had someone repair it and send it to you. 

And that ring. I no longer have any right to keep it. 

Nora, the most glorious night of my entire life was the night I lost you. Later, I watched that 

livestream over and over again. I watched you standing under those lights, saying with your own lips that you were merely my former colleague. Only then did I understand-that a person can truly be sentenced to death by a single sentence. It’s just that the blade that delivered it was the one I placed into your hands. 

I don’t ask for your forgiveness. And I no longer dare say that I love you. 

From now on, you will go see many auroras. You will eat many chestnut cakes. You will celebrate many birthdays where you don’t have to wait for anyone. 

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She went into early labor while he toasted his mistress. He declined her call…. 

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Don’t look back. 

If there is another life, I hope I learn first how to love someone-before I ever meet you. 

Attached at the end of the email was a photo. It was that old wedding ring. On the inside of the band, 

beside the words Only N, a tiny new line had been engraved. Sorry, N. 

I stared at that photograph, and tears slid down without a sound. 

The next day, the package arrived. The earring had been repaired beautifully. The shawl had been pressed smooth again. The ring lay at the very bottom. 

I didn’t wear it. I simply placed them all together back inside my mother’s old wooden chest. 

As I closed the lid, the aurora outside the window was sweeping across the sky at just that moment. 

For many years afterward, I never saw Julian again. I heard he made one comeback-a small indie film. In it, he played a man who, after achieving everything, lost his wife. On opening day, the box 

office was dismal. 

But after the very last screening ended, he sat alone in that empty theater. He waited until all the lights came up and still didn’t leave. 

A staff member asked him, “Mr. Pierce, are you still waiting for someone?” 

He watched the credits finish rolling across the screen and smiled, very faintly. “Yeah.” 

“Waiting for who?” 

He was silent for a long, long time. “Waiting for someone who will never turn back around.” 

I know all of this because the credits song from that film was sent to my email. I didn’t open it. I simply dragged the message into the trash. 

That day was my birthday. I bought myself a chestnut cake. I sat alone by the window and watched the snow fall and cover the entire street. 

As the candle burned down to half its height, I suddenly remembered something from all those years ago―Julian holding my hand and saying, “Nora, once I stand at the very top, I’ll take you to › see the light at the edge of the world.” 

But later, I finally understood. Real light has never been something that someone else brings me to see. It’s what I finally give back to myself-after I’ve walked alone through my own long, dark 

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She went into early labor while he toasted his mistress. He declined her call…. 

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night. 

I blew out the candle. Facing the window, I said softly, “Happy birthday, Nora.” 

From now on, you never have to wait for anyone again. 

Prologue