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Alle Kapitel von Our Paths Will Never Cross Again: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 10

11 Kapitel

Chapter 1

I woke to the bright white glare of a penlight in my eyes.Dr. John Hughes was checking my vital signs.When he saw that I was awake, he let out a sigh of relief.“You’re finally awake. You’ve been unconscious for an entire day and night. Thank God.”“Aside from a concussion and the wound on your head, there doesn’t appear to be anything seriously wrong. You were extremely lucky.”My eyes instinctively turned toward the entrance of the tent.John immediately knew who I was looking for.He stood up. “Don’t worry. I’ll get Lieutenant Robert right away.”I shook my head to stop him.“Don’t go looking for him.”John looked at me in confusion.Everyone in our unit knew how much I relied on Robert.Normally, I was the doctor responsible for caring for the wounded.But whenever I was injured, I allowed myself to ask Robert to take care of me.I had always cherished those opportunities to be close to him.But this time, even though the pain had drained the color from my face and left my entire

Chapter 2

I raised my head and looked into those blue eyes I had once loved so deeply.“You saw me.”Robert looked at me helplessly.“You’re throwing another tantrum, Catherine. I chose to save Nora first because she was weaker than you.”“And I’ve told you many times. I promised Mark I would protect her.”I was done.I no longer wanted a fiancé who kept choosing to care for another woman.I said nothing more, and the room fell silent.Robert seemed to think I had finally accepted his explanation. He was about to sit beside me when the radio on his chest crackled with Nora’s tearful voice.“Robert, where did you go?”“I woke up and couldn’t find you. I was so scared.”I stared at him in disbelief.“Radios are already in short supply. You gave one to her?”He ignored my question and pressed the communication button.There was a tenderness in his eyes that even he did not seem to notice.“I’ll be right back. Be good and wait for me.”After releasing the button, he looked at me as though his decisi

Chapter 3

That was when Robert proposed to me.It happened in a forest far from the rest of the unit, on a dark night when we were completely alone.He promised that once the war ended, we would get married. He would take good care of me, and we would live an ordinary but happy life together.But now, he had given the care he once promised me to another woman.After talking things over with Emily, I returned to my hospital bed.Exhaustion quickly pulled me into sleep.The explosions, the cries of the wounded, and the scorching waves of heat surrounded me again.The comrades who had died appeared in my dreams one after another.They groaned in pain and begged me to save them.But I could not.I could not save everyone.They cursed me, blamed me, and tore at me.I woke screaming, pounding my fists against my head.People carrying trauma from war were often too afraid to face it.We hid it from everyone as a form of self-punishment, as though silence could somehow ease the guilt.I had seen the tra

Chapter 4

Before dawn, while the sky was still dark, a telegram arrived.My engagement to Robert had been formally dissolved.I was free to go home.I left the engagement ring on the bedside table, picked up my luggage, and strode outside.Emily was already waiting for me in the vehicle.Together, we drove away from the snow-covered forest.As the freezing wind swept powdered snow through the window, I watched the scenery pass and felt the past three years fading behind me like a dream.Halfway through the journey, we were forced to stop.An avalanche had struck an hour earlier and completely blocked the road ahead. It would take at least three days to clear a path.With no other choice, we returned to camp.The moment I stepped out of the vehicle, Robert blocked my path at the entrance to the camp.His eyes were bloodshot as he demanded through clenched teeth:“Catherine! What did you mean by leaving your engagement ring behind?”“Were you trying to threaten me?”I had no desire to argue with h

Chapter 5

Robert stormed into Nora’s tent like a madman and roughly tore the radio from her clothes.Startled by his sudden appearance, Nora was about to speak to him in her usual coaxing tone when the sight of his bloodshot eyes frightened her.“Robert, you look terrifying.”Without responding, Robert grabbed the radio and contacted Emily again.As soon as he confirmed their location, he started the vehicle and sped away without wasting another second.His bloodshot eyes remained fixed on the road ahead, and he barely dared to blink.Clenching his teeth, he forced himself to stay calm.Catherine would be fine; nothing could have happened to her.He repeated the thought over and over in his mind, praying again and again as he drove.Then, from a distance, the charred remains of the vehicle finally came into view, with little left except its burned frame.Robert’s hands began trembling so badly that he could barely hold the steering wheel. He slammed on the brakes, but the vehicle skidded across

Chapter 6

Emily finally lost control of the emotions she had been suppressing and grabbed a small stone, hurling it at Robert’s back.“Who are you putting on this devoted act for now? Catherine will never get to see it!”“If you had cared about her a little more after she was injured, or stayed with her when she woke up crying because of the trauma, maybe she wouldn’t have left, and none of this would have happened...”Her voice caught in her throat before she could finish, and the rest of the words would not come.After all, they had fought side by side and risked their lives together, so no matter how angry she was, Emily could not bring herself to say anything truly cruel to him.Robert suddenly rushed toward her, gripped her shoulders, and stared at her intently.“What trauma are you talking about?”“Catherine has always been so strong!”With a sorrowful sigh, Emily answered, “That explosion left Catherine with PTSD too, but she wouldn’t let me tell anyone, especially you.”“I thought that s

Chapter 7

From that day on, Robert spoke to no one unless he was giving orders.He avoided Nora in particular, refusing to speak to her and turning away whenever he saw her approaching from a distance.Late every night, however, he would get out of bed and make his way to the medical station.There, he would slowly lie down on the cold operating table and curl his body inward.He would imagine Catherine moving around the table as she worked.Sometimes he even pictured her appearing the very next second, picking up the scalpel she treasured and concentrating on her work as she always had.Yet she never appeared.Even on the rare nights when sleep finally came, Catherine never entered his dreams.Gradually, Robert began to depend on morphine.Whenever he thought about it, he remembered that the last dose of morphine had been saved for Nora because she could not sleep.Meanwhile, Catherine had endured the agony of having her wound stitched without any pain relief.At the time, he had even believed

Chapter 8

After returning home, I reported to the hospital and took the opportunity to visit my aunt for a psychological evaluation.She was a nationally renowned psychiatrist, and after assessing me, she said that my post-war PTSD was far more severe than I had expected, compounded by trauma from my intimate relationship.Fortunately, returning home had given me a new environment and access to proper treatment.Before I left, she asked me, “Are you planning to go back overseas?”Turning toward her, I smiled and shook my head.“No. From now on, I want to stay home and spend more time with my parents.”She nodded with a quiet sigh and looked at me with affection, saying nothing more except to remind me to keep taking my medication, continue therapy, and return for regular follow-up appointments.My condition gradually improved, and before long, I was able to devote myself to work again.Three years of practicing medicine under extreme conditions had made me far more efficient, and the hospital pr

Chapter 9

Holding my glass, I listened carefully to everything they said.These were people who had once risked their lives beside me, and I genuinely cared about what had happened to them.As the gathering came to an end, I stood and raised my glass to everyone.They had gone to the battlefield because they believed in their ideals and in justice, while I had gone there simply because I wanted to follow one person.That was why I admired them so deeply; to me, they were the ones who truly deserved to be called heroes.Emily disagreed.“Why you went there doesn’t matter. What matters is what you did once you were there.”“You saved a lot of people, Catherine. That makes you a hero too.”Then she reached into her bag and took out a thick stack of cards and letters.“These were written by people we helped during the war when we were preparing to come home. These ones are for you.”Taking them from her, I looked over several of the envelopes and cards.Some were written in our own language, while o

Chapter 10

Without waiting for Robert’s answer, I got into the car and left.After returning home, I switched on the lamp and carefully opened the letters one by one, reading every word with complete attention.Even when unfamiliar writing was mixed with drawings, I could still roughly understand what the senders wanted to say.“Thank you for saving my child.”“You’re an angel. I love you.”“Thank you for everything you did for us. We’ll always be grateful.”“I hope you’ll be happy.”“I’m sorry we never had the chance to say a proper goodbye.”“When I grow up, I want to be a hero like you!”...As I continued reading, tears began streaming down my face, and when they fell onto the paper, I hurried to wipe them away.Only then did I realize that the days I had once remembered as painful and exhausting had brought light into the lives of so many people.Even without Robert, not a single step I had taken had been meaningless.When I finished work at the hospital the following day, I unexpectedly fou

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