The wind had picked up, pecking at Lin’s skin as snowflakes floated from the sky, swirling around her like tiny dancers. The night was cold, the kind of cold that sunk into your bones and made your breath visible in the air. But she didn’t care.
Her hands, now free from the weight of the wedding gown, felt the sharp chill as she wrapped her arms around herself. The snow was falling heavily now, covering the earth in a soft, white blanket. It felt like a world reborn everything around her was new, untouched, just like the release she had only started to hold.
She glanced at Xian. He stood silently, his face calm, as if the snowstorm was nothing more than a brief moment in time. He didn’t seem bothered by the cold, his eyes focused on something far beyond the immediate.
“Where are we going?” Lin asked, her voice quieter now, her earlier rush of feelings relaxing into a kind of tired interest.
Xian turned his gaze toward her, his face unreadable in the dark light of the moon. “Away from everything you’ve known. If you’re running from your life, you need to go somewhere where no one knows you. Somewhere you can breathe. Somewhere you can think.”
Lin’s heart skipped a beat. “And where would that be?”
He looked around at the snow-covered trees, the mountains overlooking in the distance. “There’s a village nearby. Small. Quiet. It’s not much, but it’s a place to start.”
Lin nodded, her chest narrowing at the thought of leaving everything behind. The life she’d known, the expectations, the responsibilities, the arranged marriage, all of it felt like a faraway memory now, as if it never really belonged to her.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she confessed, her voice barely loud.
Xian’s eyes eased, and he took a step closer, his presence leveling her in the thick of the swirling snow. “You don’t have to know. Not yet. You just have to take the first step. The rest will follow.”
She stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say. Part of her was still reluctant, still caught in the whirlwind of anxiety and hesitance. But another part, a part she didn’t recognize until now, longed to believe in his words. Longed to believe that maybe she didn’t have to live the life that had been handed to her. Maybe she could create her own path.
And maybe, just maybe, Xian was the person who would walk that path with her.
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Let’s go.”
They began to walk together through the snow-covered forest, the ground crunching under their feet. The world around them was silent, the snow muting everything, leaving only the sound of their footsteps and the infrequent rustle of the trees.
As they walked, Lin found herself glancing at Xian every so often. His pace was steady, tireless as if the storm around them didn’t bother him. She wondered how he did it how he was so calm, so sure of everything when she felt like she was falling apart inside.
“What about you?” she asked suddenly. “Why are you out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Xian’s eyes twinkled shortly to her before he answered. “I have my reasons. Let’s just say I’m not running from something. I’m looking for something.”
She didn’t press further. She could sense that whatever he was looking for, it was something extremely personal. Something he didn’t want to share just yet.
The snow was coming down harder now, the flakes larger, and Lin’s breath began to form small clouds in front of her. Despite the cold, she felt something warm inside her chest. Maybe it was the relief of running away from the life that had been forced upon her, or maybe it was the sense of having someone beside her who didn’t judge, who didn’t expect anything from her.
They walked for what felt like hours, the snow falling steadily, until the first hints of dawn began to appear on the horizon. The pale light of early morning spread across the sky, casting a soft glow on the snow-covered ground.
“There’s the village,” Xian said, pointing toward a small cluster of buildings in the distance. The outline of a few cottages and a tiny inn could be seen, nestled in a valley between the mountains. It was peaceful, quiet—nothing like the life she had left behind.
Lin stopped walking for a moment, looking out at the village. A sense of uncertainty crept back into her chest, but it was different this time. It wasn’t the kind of fear she’d known before. It was the fear of the unknown, the fear of stepping into a new life without knowing what it would bring.
“What happens now?” she asked quietly, her voice trembling slightly.
Xian turned to face her, his gaze steady. “Now, we start over. You can find a place here. You can live your life. No more cages. No more forced choices.”
She looked at him, his words sinking into her like a balm. No more cages. She hadn’t even realized how trapped she’d been until now. The idea of freedom felt so foreign, so new, that it made her heart race.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Xian smiled, the warmth in his eyes making her heart flutter unexpectedly. “You don’t need to thank me. This is your journey, Lin. You just need to walk it.”
As they reached the village, the snow continued to fall around them, a soft, endless blanket that seemed to promise new beginnings. The path ahead was uncertain, but for the first time in a long time, Lin felt like it was hers to choose.
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