Chapter Thirteen: When Someone Sees What You Hide

After Lian ended the conversation, she kept her phone in her hand for a long time.

She didn't know why Adam's words had affected her so deeply.

He hadn't said anything extraordinary.

He hadn't promised to save her.

He hadn't told her that all her problems would disappear.

But he had done something no one had done for a very long time...

He had seen her.

Not as the daughter of a powerful family.

Not as a bride who would soon enter a new mansion.

Not as a piece of an agreement between two families.

He had seen her as a person who had something she loved.

She got up and walked back toward her studio.

The night was almost over, but sleep no longer mattered.

She opened the door.

Then stepped inside.

She looked at all the paintings hanging around the room.

There were sad faces.

Empty places.

Women standing alone.

And scenes no one understood except her.

In the past, she had hidden these paintings because she was afraid of what others would think.

They had told her that painting couldn't build a future.

They had told her that art was beautiful, but it didn't belong in the life of a powerful family.

They had told her to focus on things that were “more important.”

But Adam had seen something different.

He hadn't seen colors alone.

He had seen a language.

She walked toward one of her paintings.

Then she picked up a new notebook.

On the first page, she wrote:

“Maybe my dream wasn't too small... Maybe the place I put it in was.”

She stared at the sentence.

Then smiled faintly.

Over the past few days, she had been thinking about how to escape her life.

Now, she was beginning to think about how to build a life of her own.

She opened her laptop.

She began searching through the world of art.

Comics.

Character design.

Digital art.

Animation.

Fashion design.

Even the things she had once considered nothing more than hobbies now looked like possible doors.

But the fear hadn't disappeared.

A voice inside her asked:

“What if you fail?”

She placed her hand on the pen.

And silently answered:

“What if I succeed?”

It was the first time she had allowed herself to ask that question.

Somewhere else, Adam sat in front of his small laptop.

He had no idea what his words had done.

He didn't know that one simple message had made a girl feel that she wasn't merely a victim of someone else's decision.

For him, he had only been trying to give her what he had needed during the hardest days of his own life:

Someone to tell him that a difficult path wasn't necessarily the wrong one.

And that night, two people who didn't truly know each other yet...

began building a small bridge between two very different worlds.

He was searching for his future among books and words.

She was searching for herself among colors and imagination.

Neither of them knew that this simple connection...

would become the beginning of something far greater than either expected.

The next morning, Lian didn't wake up as someone whose life had completely changed.

Her fears hadn't disappeared.

The wedding wasn't any less close.

And the whispers around her hadn't stopped.

But something small had changed.

She no longer saw herself as a girl waiting for other people to decide her future.

She was carrying a new question:

“What do I want?”

Her mother entered her room late that morning.

She expected to find her daughter as broken as she had been over the past few days.

Instead, she found her sitting in front of her laptop, with a notebook full of notes beside her.

Her mother stopped at the door.

“Lian?”

Lian looked up.

She gave her a small smile.

“Good morning.”

Her mother felt something strange.

She hadn't seen that smile in a very long time.

She walked closer and looked at the screen.

She didn't understand everything she was seeing.

Pictures, drawings, and ideas about art and design.

She asked quietly:

“When did you start doing this?”

Lian looked down at the notebook.

“A long time ago.”

Then she added:

“But I kept it hidden.”

Her mother sat beside her.

She wanted to ask about Adam.

About the wedding.

About all the problems surrounding them.

But she didn't.

Because she saw something more important.

She saw her daughter talking about something she loved.

And in that moment, she understood that Lian didn't only need someone to protect her...

She needed someone to believe in her.

Her mother spoke softly:

“I wish you had told me.”

Lian lowered her eyes.

“I was afraid you'd tell me it was useless.”

Her mother fell silent.

Because she realized that her daughter hadn't only been afraid of other people's rejection...

She had been afraid of losing the last person she wanted to understand her.

That evening, Lian returned to her studio.

But this time, she wasn't painting only sad pictures.

She began designing a new character.

A girl who didn't wait for someone to save her.

A girl who carried her fear, but kept walking.

Under the drawing, she wrote:

“A beginning doesn't have to be perfect.”

At the same time, Adam continued with his new life.

He had no idea what was happening in Lian's world.

He was busy with a new work request, his translations, and trying to pay the rent for his room.

But when he opened his account and saw that Lian had posted a new painting...

he stopped.

The painting wasn't like the ones before.

There was something different about it.

He couldn't quite describe it.

But he felt that she was no longer painting from inside the same prison.

He typed a short message:

“This time... the painting looks like it's looking ahead.”

He hesitated before sending it.

Then he pressed send.

Somewhere else, Lian read the message.

And for the first time in days...

she didn't feel like she was waiting for someone to come and save her.

She simply felt that someone far away was reminding her of a simple truth:

A person can lose their way...

but they don't lose themselves as long as they are still searching for who they are.

The next day, Lian's mother watched her daughter in silence.

For days, she had seen the sadness in her eyes.

She had watched her sit for hours without saying a word.

She had seen her retreat to her room and close the door.

And she had watched her try to appear strong in front of everyone while falling apart inside.

But today was different.

Lian wasn't completely happy...

but she wasn't as broken as before.

She sat in front of her laptop, writing notes, then returning to her drawing.

Her mother watched her for a few moments.

Then she left the room and quietly closed the door.

She took out her phone and called her daughter's friend.

When the call was answered, she remained silent for a moment before speaking.

“I need to ask you for a favor.”

Lian's friend immediately sensed the concern in her voice.

“Did something happen?”

Her mother sighed.

“No... not exactly.”

Then she continued:

“I can't be with her all the time. There are so many things happening in this house, and I'm afraid she'll feel alone.”

She paused.

“I want you to stay by her side.”

Her friend understood.

“You want me to keep her company?”

Her mother replied:

“Yes.”

Then she added quietly:

“She doesn't need someone to tell her what to do right now... She just needs someone who will listen.”

Her friend remained silent for a moment.

She knew Lian.

She knew that when Lian was hurting, she didn't ask for help.

She hid.

“I'll go to her,” she said.

Her mother ended the call and stood there for a few moments.

She wished she could carry all of this burden for her daughter.

But she knew that some battles could not be fought by anyone else.

She returned to the room.

She found Lian painting.

She walked closer and said:

“Your friend is coming today.”

Lian looked up in surprise.

“Why?”

Her mother smiled sadly.

“Because I don't want you to be alone.”

Lian looked at her for a long moment.

And for the first time in a while, she didn't hear fear in her mother's words...

She heard love.

She quietly continued painting.

And deep inside, she knew the days ahead would be difficult.

But she no longer had to face them alone.