Chapter 11
During these six months at Max Planck Institute in Germany, I returned to the lab, doing what I did best.
David, the senior researcher who invited me, sometimes remarked: “Why did you waste five years elsewhere? You could have made breakthroughs so much earlier.”
Recording data, I’d smile lightly: “Everyone takes detours sometimes. As long as you find your way back, it’s never too late, right?”
I’ll allow thorns to appear along my life’s long journey.
Even if crossing them leaves me bleeding.
But who can say this won’t lead to a completely new version of me?
As long as I have courage, I’ll boldly move forward, the endless path ahead still glittering.
Time kept me so busy, too busy to remember anyone.
Until that day, when a courier delivered a package from London – after half a year, I received this anonymous mail.
Inside were two fully paid property contracts in my name.
One for a luxury penthouse in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, another for our “marriage home” back home where I’d only paid the down payment.
My current apartment in Munich is quiet, especially at night.
During my first couple of months here, I barely slept.
I won’t lie and say I never hoped. I wasn’t too proud to admit I’d hoped he might suddenly appear before
- me.
Walking through Munich’s streets, I wondered if one day I’d turn around and see him.
Some quiet nights, hearing cars on Leopoldstraße, I’d instinctively pull back the curtains, only to find an empty world.
Then I’d remember – someone like him wouldn’t lose his mind over anyone.
Those five years he spent among ordinary people were already an exception.
06:35
Chapter 11
In his life, he’d gained too much for any loss to matter.
–
Picking up gently, setting down carelessly that was his way.
I locked both contracts away untouched, still not contacting him.
Chapter 12
Chapter 12