“Lac Le…”
The familiar voice sounded behind me.
“I heard you came to the Command Center today. What did you come here for?”
I stopped walking.
In the past, the moment I heard Guo Qi Nian’s voice, I would immediately turn around.
I would explain.
I would worry that he misunderstood me.
I would try to prove that I had done nothing wrong.
But today…
I stood there for a few seconds before slowly turning around.
“Something important.”
Guo Qi Nian frowned.
He clearly disliked my short answer.
“What is it?”
“I don’t need to report everything to you anymore.”
His expression instantly changed.
Maybe he never imagined that one day I would speak to him like this.
“Lac Le.”
His voice became lower.
“Are you angry with me?”
I looked at him.
What a strange question.
For all these years, he always thought everything between us was just me being upset.
He never realized it was disappointment.
“ No.”
I answered softly.
“I just don’t care anymore.”
Guo Qi Nian’s eyes froze.
For a brief moment.
But I saw it clearly.
Those words had hurt him.
Yet I was no longer the same person.
I no longer wanted to comfort him.
No longer wanted to explain.
No longer wanted to prove my love.
Because the person who needed those things the most…
Was me.
Not him.
Three days later.
I officially accepted a new assignment from the Command Center.
A special project.
A new identity.
A position that Guo Qi Nian had never known I could achieve.
When the announcement was released, the entire military district was shocked.
My name appeared at the top of the list.
Lac Le.
No longer “Guo Qi Nian’s wife.”
No longer the woman standing behind him.
But simply myself.
That night, Guo Qi Nian returned home very late.
He stood in front of the living room for a long time.
The house looked exactly the same.
But everything felt different.
Because the person who always waited for him…
Was no longer there.
There was no warm dinner on the table.
No reminder to take his medicine.
No gentle voice asking:
“Are you tired today?”
Guo Qi Nian took out his phone.
The last message between us was still there.
It was from a week ago.
Only two words:
“Received.”
Nothing else.
He stared at the screen for a long time.
Then he called.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No one answered.
For the first time in many years…
He became the one waiting.
The next day.
La Yan appeared at the military base.
She still had the same fragile appearance.
The same gentle voice.
“Qi Nian, I heard Lac Le was transferred here.”
Guo Qi Nian looked at her.
“Yes.”
La Yan pressed her lips together.
“She seems to have changed a lot.”
Guo Qi Nian remained silent.
Because he had noticed it too.
Lac Le no longer looked at him with endless love.
She no longer waited for him to turn around.
She no longer chased after him.
And what bothered him the most…
Was that he didn’t know when she had slowly disappeared from his life.
La Yan lowered her voice.
“Qi Nian, have you ever thought…”
“What if she really leaves?”
The hand holding the document suddenly stopped.
“She won’t.”
He answered instinctively.
But after saying it…
Even he became silent.
Because that answer…
No longer sounded certain.
That night.
I received a call from an unknown number.
“Miss Lac.”
The man’s voice on the other side was serious.
“I have something important to tell you.”
“I am responsible for investigating the Guo family records.”
I frowned.
“The Guo family?”
“Yes.”
He paused for a few seconds.
“There is something related to the past that you have never known.”
I remained silent.
“When you married Guo Qi Nian…”
“Someone deliberately hid certain documents.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean someone didn’t want you to know the truth.”
“The truth about your identity.”
I froze.
Memories from the past flashed through my mind.
The years when I believed I was just an ordinary woman.
A wife who constantly tried to protect a marriage that was already breaking apart.
But what if everything I knew…
Was only part of the truth?
The man continued:
“Miss Lac.”
“There is a secret that even Guo Qi Nian doesn’t know.”
“And when it is revealed…”
“It may completely change the way you see this marriage.”
I said nothing.
Because for the first time in many years…
I felt something waiting ahead.
Not love.
Not forgiveness.
But the truth.
Somewhere else.
Guo Qi Nian looked at an old photo of me on his phone.
A picture he secretly took while I was sleeping.
The girl in that photo once smiled at him as if he was her entire world.
But now…
She had become someone he could no longer reach.
He didn’t know that at the same moment…
A secret about Lac Le’s past was about to be revealed.
And when the truth finally came out…
The person who had to pay the price would not be only him.
