Epilogue

Tina's POV

Sometimes, I feel like I'm in the middle of an endless ocean. Adrift, with nowhere to go. No anchor, no shore in sight. Just me and the vast, merciless waves, whispering stories only I can hear. The waves kiss my feet, a reminder that nothing is permanent. Not happiness. Not misery. Everything comes and goes, like the tides.

It's been four years since I came back to Fiji and took over Dad's business. Four years since I buried myself in work, refusing to let the past resurface. The company has expanded, profits have soared, and last year, Dad finally retired. Now, he and Mom spend most of their time on vacation, their world carefree. I should be happy for them. Maybe I am. Or maybe, I envy how easily they've let go, while I'm still tangled in everything I lost.

A familiar voice snapped me out of my trance.

"Tina! Are you coming or what?" Shawn's voice carried over the wind, pulling me back to reality.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a moment," I replied, unwilling to leave just yet. The sunset. My solace. I don't know why, but I feel connected to it in a way I can't explain. Maybe because it reminds me that the day is finally over. That no matter how difficult the hours have been, there's always a new dawn waiting. The sky was painted in strokes of orange and crimson, the sun slowly sinking into the horizon.

I smirked bitterly. At least the sun is lucky. It gets to meet the horizon every day.

Unlike me.

I hadn't looked back since I left. Never tried to find Joe. He had vanished, like a shadow dissolving into the night. Trisha and Veronica kept in touch. Just barely. A few messages from Trisha now and then, some pictures, occasional calls from Veronica. I never tried to close the distance between us. Maybe it was better this way. They had their own lives to live, and so did I.

"Tina! You're going to miss the wedding!" Shawn called again, impatience creeping into his voice.

Right. The wedding. My cousin Lisa had returned from England with her fiancé. A sunset wedding on the shores of Fiji. "Destination wedding," they called it. Romantic, perfect. But to me, it was just another event I had to sit through.

I dusted the sand off my legs and stood up, preparing to leave.

Ouch.

I winced as something sharp scraped against my foot. Bending down, I picked up a seashell, small and delicate. My breath caught in my throat. Time seemed to freeze. It looked exactly like the shell Joe had made a necklace for me. My fingers curled around it instinctively, holding onto a memory I had sworn to let go of. The only piece of him I had taken from the U.S. A cruel reminder of why I would never let myself fall in love again.

I slipped my shoes back on, gripping the shell tightly, and made my way to the chapel.

The ceremony was already underway when I arrived. I slid into the seat next to Shawn, barely registering the bride and groom at the altar. There were so many people. Many from England, guests from the groom's side. I should have been paying attention, but my mind was elsewhere.

The shell.

Joe.

The past had a funny way of sneaking up on me when I least expected it.

I stared blankly at the couple as they exchanged vows. Their words floated in the air, meaningless to me. Promises, devotion, forever. None of it mattered. Not when I knew that one day, these same words might mean nothing to them. Love fades. Promises break.

And then the groom said it.

"I want you to be my last seven minutes."

My heart skipped a beat.

No. No, it can't be.

Those exact words. The same ones Joe had whispered to me once.

I turned to Shawn, tugging on his sleeve. He leaned toward me, raising an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?" I whispered, my voice barely steady.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"That line... 'I want you to be my last seven minutes.' What does it mean?"

Shawn hesitated for a moment before whispering back, "Well, as a doctor, I can tell you that when a person dies, their brain stays alive for seven minutes. And it is believed that in those seven minutes, they relive the most important moments of their life. If someone says they want you to be their last seven minutes, it means... they want their final thoughts to be of you."

I felt like the air had been knocked out of my lungs.

Did Joe mean it when he said that to me? Or was it just another lie? If I had truly been that important to him, why did he leave? Why did he break every promise he made?

The grooms voice cut through my thoughts.

"Til death do us part" looking deeply into the bride's tearful eyes

"Til the ashes settle" the bride let out in a breathless yet audible voice.

They sealed their vows in a passionate kiss.

I exhaled sharply. "Finally."

Shawn shot me a frown.

"What? I'm bored. And it's hot in here."

"It's summer, Tina," he muttered. "Come on, let's get out of here." He grabbed my hand and led me outside.

The sky was darkening now, only faint streaks of sunset lingering on the horizon. The waves crashed against the shore, restless and unrelenting.

Then, a scent drifted through the air. Familiar. Heart-stopping.

His cologne.

I turned sharply, my breath hitching.

A small group of men stood nearby, laughing, talking. My eyes scanned their faces frantically, my heart hammering in my chest. For a second, I swore. I swore it was Joe.

Shawn returned with two cocktails, handing one to me. "You okay?" He noticed my expression.

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah."

But I wasn't.

Everything felt... off tonight. My heartbeat. My thoughts. The way my past was creeping back into my present.

"Tina!" Lisa's voice pulled me back. She was waving at me. I forced a smile and walked over, embracing her.

"Congratulations, darling. You look beautiful."

"Thanks," she beamed. "Come, I want you to meet some people. Oh, and a few of Jeremy's cousins have been asking about you." She winked playfully.

I wasn't in the mood, but I followed her anyway. She introduced me to a few friends before stopping in front of a striking couple.

"Tina, meet my cousin Nathaniel and his wife, Erin. Nathaniel, Erin. This is Tina, my cousin. She also lived in Boston for three years."

Nathaniel was tall, well-built, and had an air of quiet intensity about him. His deep-set eyes observed me carefully, his expression unreadable. He extended his hand, his grip firm but controlled.

"Nice to meet you," he said in a voice that was both polite and authoritative.

Erin, on the other hand, was delicate yet guarded. Her eyes. Hazel with flecks of gold. Held something unspoken. A story. A pain I recognized.

Lisa's name was called, and she excused herself, leaving me alone with Nathaniel and Erin.

"So, Tina," Nathaniel's deep voice cut through the air. "How was your stay in Boston?"

I shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze. He was striking, I wouldn't deny that. Tall, broad-shouldered, with a presence that demanded attention. But there was something about him that made me uneasy, like he could read through me, peel back the layers I had carefully built around myself.

"It was... good," I murmured, my voice lacking conviction.

"Why did you come back?" His question was sharp, like a scalpel cutting into old wounds.

I swallowed hard. "Umm... I was supposed to run my dad's business," I said, keeping it brief, hoping he wouldn't pry further.

But his piercing gaze lingered on me, searching, as if he could sense the truth I wasn't saying. Before he could push further, one of the boys called him. He turned to Erin, whispered something to her. Something only meant for her ears and then walked away.

That's when I noticed it.

The pain in Erin's eyes.

It was fleeting, gone in a second, but I caught it. A silent ache buried beneath a forced smile. As soon as she saw me watching, she plastered on a bright expression and took a step closer.

"I know you," she said, her voice soft, almost knowing. "You're Tina. Joe's Tina. Right?"

My heart stopped.

A sharp, unforgiving chill ran through my spine.

How did she know me? And more importantly... how did she know about us?

Before I could form the words, she gave me a knowing look and spoke again. "I know you're confused. I'll clear the air. I'm Erin." She took a deep breath, like she was about to step into a storm. "Joe's ex-girlfriend."

The name hit me like a bullet.

Joe had mentioned her a few times, but I never pressed for details. Why would I? She was his past. I was his present. That was all that had mattered back then.

"How do you know about me?" My voice trembled, my hands curling into fists to stop them from shaking.

"It's a small world, Tina," she said with a sad smile. "I found out about you from a friend... Natasha. Calvin's ex."

And just like that, everything clicked.

Joe had once told me about Erin and Natasha. How they met, how their lives had once been intertwined. And now, fate has cruelly decided to tangle our paths, too.

Erin studied me carefully before speaking again. "I heard Joe moved to LA. And you're here. So, I guess... you two broke up."

I swallowed, trying to ignore the lump forming in my throat. My mouth felt dry, like all the words I wanted to say had vanished.

I nodded.

Her eyes softened with something that looked a lot like pity.

She reached out, taking my hand in hers. It was warm, steady, while I felt like I was on the verge of crumbling.

"It was the best thing that could have happened," she whispered. "You made the right choice."

I froze.

What was she trying to say?

She sighed, her grip tightening just slightly. "No matter how much you love Joe, at the end of the day, he will always choose his family. That's who he is, Tina. And I guess it was his family's decision for him to move to LA. He never made his own choices. That was one of the reasons I left him."

I couldn't breathe.

"You did the right thing," she continued, her voice filled with a quiet conviction. "Just forget about him. Move on. He only loves his family, and no one else can truly be a part of it. It's always going to be them under one roof, and you..." She paused, looking me straight in the eyes. "You would have never belonged there."

Something inside me shattered.

All these years, I had convinced myself that Joe and I had simply fallen apart. That distance, time, and life had pulled us away. But what if it wasn't that simple? What if Erin was right? What if I had been fighting a losing battle from the very beginning?

I wanted to ask her more, to demand the full story of why she left Joe, why she seemed so certain about my own pain. Like she had lived it before.

But before I could, Nathaniel returned.

The moment his hand touched Erin's waist, something in her changed.

Her body went stiff, her smile faltered for a fraction of a second, and a shadow flickered in her eyes.

"Let's go," he murmured, his voice gentle, yet firm. Commanding.

She looked at me one last time before lowering her gaze, nodding like she had no other choice. And then she let him lead her away.

I stood there, unmoving, watching as they disappeared into the night.

But something about the way she walked, the way she seemed so small beside him. It unsettled me.

If she was so uncomfortable around him... why did she marry that man?

What was she hiding?

What was the story behind her misery?

I shuddered, a strange unease settling deep in my bones.

I looked around for Shawn, needing his presence to ground me, but he was nowhere to be found. The weight of the night pressed down on me, and I felt like I was suffocating.

I needed to sit. To breathe.

My head was spinning, my thoughts unraveling like an old threadbare sweater. Everything about tonight was dragging me back to Joe. The person I had spent so long trying to erase from my memory. The person who once was my everything... and was now my nightmare.

I stumbled toward the beach, the cool sand slipping between my toes. The waves were calm, rolling in a slow, steady rhythm, as if mocking the storm inside me.

And that's when I saw her.

Far away, sitting alone on the sand, staring blankly at the ocean.

Erin.

She looked lost, like a soul searching for something it would never find.

Pain recognized pain.

And in that moment, I knew. Whatever she had told me about Joe, whatever truths she had laid before me... she was carrying her own burden. A weight she couldn't shake.

What had she been through?

What was she still going through?

Life held so much. Sometimes more than we could bear. But we had to move on. Keep walking. Even when our hearts felt like they would never heal.

And tonight, both Erin and I were doing just that.

Forgetting.

Bearing the pain.

And moving on.

________________________________

"Promises whispered in the dark, once sacred, now scattered like ashes in the wind. A heart that once beat with love now bleeds in silence. Not every ending is a happy one; some leave scars too deep to heal. But even with shattered pieces, we walk forward. Because staying in the past won't bring back what's already lost."