It took me four hours on the train to get to Tideport, and it was just as the evening lights were starting toe on.


    It might not have the hustle and bustle of Seastone, but the city was still alive with lights, carrying that quaint charm of a small town.


    Jasmine’s call came in, almost right on the dot. “Have you arrived? Found a ce to stay yet?”


    She hadn’t expected me to leave so abruptly. When she asked where I was going, I gave her the address and even the train details. She had wondered if I was rushing off to escape Alvin, afraid he mighte after me.


    I told her she was wrong. Alvin wouldn’t do that. He was probably just angry at me for standing him up, for not doing what he wanted.


    Looking at things now, I was right. After he grilled me about why I didn’t show up to register for the marriage, he hadn’t sent a single text or made a call.


    The real reason I came here so quickly wasn’t just that I’d been thinking about it for a while—it was because I wanted to avoid being harassed.


    But it wasn’t Alvin I was trying to avoid—it was his parents. I knew Peter and Michelle would chase after me and try to convince me toe back.


    But my mind was made up. I wasn’t about to go back and listen to them waste their energy on me. I’d rather leave quickly, get some distance, and avoid any more drama.


    I even switched my other phone to airne mode. Jasmine was calling me on my secondary number, the one even Alvin didn’t know about.


    This number belonged to Eliseo. It had been sitting in a separate slot in my phone for ten years had never rung once-until now.


    “I haven’t found a ce yet, but there’s no rush,” I replied, taking in the unfamiliar surroundings. For a moment, everything seemed to slow down, as if time had pressed pause.


    and


    “No rush? Look at the time! You need to find somewhere, and fast. Get a decent hotel, somewhere safe.


    “And check the closet, under the bed, lock the windows, and make sure the door is secure before you go to sleep…” Jasmine rattled off a list of things to do.


    I smiled, a little bit of bittersweetness mixed in with the warmth. It wasforting to know she cared. “Okay, I got it. I’ll be careful.”


    “And don’t forget to eat something! There must be takeout around there, right?” Jasmine added, just as a delivery guy passed by outside.


    “Want me to ask someone to keep youpany so you can continue rattling?” I teased.


    Jasmine sighed in relief. “Zoe, please, just take good care of yourself, no matter what.”


    “Yeah, I will. You should get some rest too, you’ve got a surgery early tomorrow,” I reminded her before hanging up.


    I didn’t rush to find a ce to stay. I didn’t want to check into a hotel. The truth was, I came here because it was my hometown-or more precisely, the ce where my parents were born.


    My parents weren’t originally from Seastone. They went there to try to make their fortune, but in the end, they didn’t make any money. Instead, they lost their lives there.


    I was born here in this small county, but we left shortly after I was born.


    Although I grew up in Seastone, I have vivid memories of Eliseo often talking about Tideport.


    He’d say that when I was older, they would bring me back here to visit the house where they lived and the orphanage where they grew up.


    Both of my parents were orphans, abandoned by their parents when they were children because of their disabilities.


    Eliseo was born deaf and mute, and my mom Margery Kemp had a congenital heart condition. Butter, they received help from kind-hearted people, underwent surgeries, and both recovered fully.


    I opened my phone’s photo gallery and found the picture of the address Eliseo had written in his notebook. I hailed a cab and said, “Please take me to Coral Lane.”


    As soon as I spoke, I felt the driver nce at me. That one nce made me look at him too, and I


    froze for a moment.