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Chapter 7

Author: With Each Ripple
He kept scrolling and stopped on a post from five years ago, right after they had first arrived abroad.

“Even if we can’t make it public for now, what’s recognized by law is forever. Thank you, Mr. Henderson.”

The photo showed two hands, wearing identical wedding rings, resting on top of a marriage license. That was when it hit Mark. His ears rang, and for a moment, he couldn’t hear anything at all.

Five years ago, when he had just arrived abroad, everything was unstable. Tonya had taken the
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  • Alone In A Foreign Land   Chapter 11

    All he knew was that every time he left flowers, he would stand across the street, staring at that glass door for a long time. Until one day, he noticed a poster stuck on the door. It had a photo of me holding a camera, smiling brightly.Below it read, “Kaia Paul Photography Solo Exhibition—The World I See is opening next Saturday at 3 p.m.”Mark stood across the street, staring at the poster, his heart skipping a beat.On the day of the opening, the exhibition space was packed. By the time Mark arrived, the gallery was already crowded. Rows of photographs—portraits, landscapes, spontaneous street shots—covered the walls. Each photo stated the time and place it was taken.The earliest ones were from five years ago. They were of fallen leaves in the park, sunsets over the bridge, and an old man playing violin in the subway. However, one photo stood out. It was a man in a white shirt, backlit, standing on a tree-lined campus path. It was him, the day they first met.Mark lingered in

  • Alone In A Foreign Land   Chapter 10

    “I was pregnant and too scared to tell you, so I went to the hospital alone for the procedure, only to get a call at two in the morning to pick you up from a bar and almost got attacked in that alley…” My voice broke off, and I didn’t continue.Mark’s eyes were red. “Kaia…”“Mark,” I said, looking at him, my gaze calm and still. “That shadow of yours… It’s gone.”I turned and walked into the studio, closing the glass door quietly behind me. Meanwhile, Mark stood frozen in place, staring at the door for a long, long time. …After that, he didn’t leave. Instead, he checked into a small hotel near Monti, bought a coffee every morning, and sat on the bench across from my studio, watching that glass door.Sometimes, I arrived early, and sometimes I didn’t come until noon. When I came and went, I sometimes noticed him, but my eyes never lingered, as if I were looking at a stranger.Mark didn’t dare approach either because he didn’t know what to say or what he could do. So, he just sa

  • Alone In A Foreign Land   Chapter 9

    Just then, his phone rang. He picked up. It was Greg.“Mark, the person you asked me to look for… I’ve found her.”Mark tightened his grip on the phone.“Where is she now?”“A photography studio in Monti. She’s been doing well lately. She’s shot covers for a few magazines, and people in the industry speak highly of her. Do you want the address?”Mark said, “Yes.”After hanging up, he walked out of the airport and hailed a taxi.“To Monti, please.”By the time the taxi stopped in Monti, the sky had darkened.Following the address Greg had given him, Mark found an old office building. The elevator stopped on the fifth floor. At the end of the hallway was a glass door with a sign that read ‘Kaia Photography Studio.’ The lights were on inside. However, Mark stayed by the door, not stepping in.Through the glass, he saw me standing in the studio, photographing a model. I wore a black shirt, my hair tied up, revealing the elegant line of my neck. I held the camera, slightly ben

  • Alone In A Foreign Land   Chapter 8

    Tonya’s face went pale for a split second, but she quickly recovered.“Of course it’s fake. How could I possibly have married you? Don’t you already have Kaia?”“Then what was the point of posting all that?”Tonya glanced at the screen and smiled. “Mr. Henderson, what did I say exactly? I wrote ‘forever recognized by law,’ but that’s fake. The law doesn’t recognize it, so where was I wrong? And I thanked you in the end. Well, you helped me with my permanent residence. Shouldn’t I thank you?”Mark looked at her, and for the first time, she felt like a stranger to him.For five years, she had worked late with him, attended endless social dinners by his side, and stood with him through one difficult case after another. He had always thought she was his perfect partner, the one who understood him best. Yet now, he realized he had never really understood her at all. Or maybe, he had never even tried because there had only ever been one person in his heart. That person would wake up a

  • Alone In A Foreign Land   Chapter 7

    He kept scrolling and stopped on a post from five years ago, right after they had first arrived abroad.“Even if we can’t make it public for now, what’s recognized by law is forever. Thank you, Mr. Henderson.”The photo showed two hands, wearing identical wedding rings, resting on top of a marriage license. That was when it hit Mark. His ears rang, and for a moment, he couldn’t hear anything at all.Five years ago, when he had just arrived abroad, everything was unstable. Tonya had taken the initiative to help him run errands, saying she knew an agent who could handle a marriage license quickly and cheaply.He had told her, “I have a girlfriend. If I’m getting married, it’ll be with her.”Tonya had replied, “Your girlfriend’s status is complicated. If anything goes wrong, she might never live here. Just do a fake one with me to get through the process. Once you’re settled, you can get a real one with her. It’s just paperwork anyway. It won’t affect anything between you two.”He h

  • Alone In A Foreign Land   Chapter 6

    Mark locked himself in his office and dialed my number, but my phone was switched off. So, he sent me a message, but it failed to deliver. Even when he sent an email, there was no response.He slumped back in his chair, closing his eyes. His mind kept replaying the past few years like a movie, scene after scene. He remembered the first time he brought me home to meet his parents. I had been so nervous I could barely speak, yet I still forced myself to serve his mother food at the table.Afterward, his mother had said, “That girl is too forward. She doesn’t seem like she comes from a proper family.”He hadn’t said anything at the time, but he had thought to himself that I was only forward because I had feelings for him, and what was wrong with that?He remembered our first year abroad. Even at the grocery store, I had to take a long time gesturing awkwardly to get my point across. He thought I was embarrassing, so he told me not to go anymore—that I could just order everything onlin

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