The Unexpected Twist

Yura had been prepared for everything in that moment. The words Ericson spoke had been the hardest to hear, and yet, they weren’t the thing that completely shattered her world. The grief in his eyes had been real, his apology sincere, but it wasn’t until the very end of their conversation that Yura realized she had been holding her breath for something far more painful, something she had never anticipated.

She had tried so hard to let go, to move on, to make peace with the past. But life, it seemed, wasn’t done playing its cruel hand.

As they sat there, in that tiny café with the low hum of the city outside, Ericson's voice broke through the silence, shaking with something other than sorrow. There was an edge to his words now—something unfamiliar, something that set Yura’s heart pounding faster.

“Yura,” Ericson’s voice wavered, a strange urgency filling his tone, “there’s something I need to tell you. I didn’t want to bring this up, not like this, but I need you to know—there’s still time. Time for us.”

Yura frowned, trying to process what he meant. Her chest tightened as she instinctively pulled her hand away from his, her mind racing. "What do you mean? Ericson, you just said—"

“I’m not dying, Yura,” he interrupted, his words sharp and cutting. “I’m not sick. I never was. I just—” He faltered, the truth hitting him as if the weight of his own lies were finally too much to bear. “I lied to you. I didn’t want you to know what I’ve really been going through. I didn’t want you to see how badly I had messed up."

Yura’s head spun. “What? You... you lied?”

Ericson looked down, unable to meet her eyes. "Yes. The cancer. It was a lie. I—" He swallowed hard, the words seemingly getting stuck in his throat. "I thought if I told you something as big as that, you’d come back to me. That you’d care enough to forgive me for everything I did. But the truth is… I’ve been running from the truth for a long time. Running from you. Running from myself.”

Yura stood up abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor with a loud noise. Her heart was racing in her chest, and she felt the sting of betrayal hitting her like a punch to the gut. "So, all this time, all these weeks, you’ve been playing with my emotions? Making me feel guilty, making me believe that I had to let you go—when you knew all along you weren’t even sick?"

Tears blurred her vision, but she wiped them away furiously, as if doing so could erase the growing sense of betrayal. She had trusted him. She had let him into her life again, thinking that they were both finally ready to face their past. But now, everything—everything they had said, everything they had shared—felt like a cruel game.

Ericson looked up, his face pale and guilt-ridden. "I’m sorry, Yura. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want to admit the truth: I missed you. I was scared. But I didn’t mean to hurt you."

Her breath hitched in her throat, the reality of the situation dawning on her. He wasn’t dying, he wasn’t struggling with some terminal illness. He had been playing on her emotions, using the most devastating lie imaginable to pull her back into his life.

Yura shook her head, her mind struggling to make sense of everything. She had been so certain that this moment would be one of healing, a final farewell to the past. But now, it felt like she was drowning in his lies, suffocated by his deceit.

“I don’t even know who you are anymore, Ericson,” she whispered, her voice trembling with a mixture of heartbreak and anger. “I can’t do this. Not again. Not after everything.”

With that, she turned and walked out of the café, leaving him behind. She didn’t hear his calls, his apologies, as they were swallowed up by the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears.

---

The weeks that followed were unbearable. Yura couldn’t escape the memory of that moment—of Ericson’s lies, of the way he had used her heart as a pawn in his desperate game. She had trusted him. She had let herself believe that maybe, just maybe, there could be a second chance for them.

But now, all that was left was an empty shell of the person she had once loved, and the heartbreak that lingered like a poison in her veins.

Her friends tried to comfort her, but nothing anyone said could fill the gaping hole in her chest. Mia, who had always been the voice of reason, had tried to talk to her about moving on, about not letting Ericson’s lies define her. But Yura couldn’t escape the feeling of being trapped in a story she didn’t choose. She couldn’t shake the image of Ericson, sitting there with his sad eyes, telling her the worst possible lie he could have told.

In the weeks that passed, Yura did her best to keep busy, to find distractions in work, in friends, in fleeting moments of joy. But deep inside, she was slowly unraveling. The anger, the grief, the betrayal—they all swirled together in a storm that she couldn’t outrun.

It wasn’t until one fateful day, when Yura had returned to the park near her apartment—the same park she had once visited with Ericson—that she found something that brought her to her knees.

There, on the ground beneath the old oak tree where they had carved their initials, lay a crumpled letter. It was addressed to her.

With shaking hands, Yura picked it up and unfolded it, the words scrawled in Ericson’s handwriting searing through her:

Yura, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to make it right, and now it’s too late. I never wanted to hurt you, but I did. I never wanted you to hate me, but I understand if you do. Please, know that I loved you more than anything in this world. I will always love you. I’m sorry for everything. Goodbye.

Her heart stopped.

Ericson had disappeared.

The truth hit her like a tidal wave. It wasn’t just that he had lied. It wasn’t just that he had played with her emotions. Ericson had vanished from her life, leaving behind nothing but a letter—an apology she couldn’t take back, and a love she could never forget.

She sank to her knees in the dirt, her tears falling freely, unable to hold them back any longer. The words of his letter echoed in her mind, but they brought no comfort. There was no second chance. There was no more closure. He was gone.

And she was left to pick up the pieces of a broken heart that had never truly healed.

In the end, Yura realized something painful: Sometimes, the people you love the most leave you without a choice, without warning—and when they’re gone, all you can do is try to survive the aftermath.

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