The Returning Ex

John hastily headed out, with water still dripping from his wet hair. He might’ve been too rushed when he was drying himself in
the shower earlier, and he didn’t even towel his hair dry. He wore a cold and stern expression on his face, showing how much of
a bad mood he was in.
It felt like he had only taken a few steps out from his room before he arrived at the elevator, but the elevator had already gone
down when he got there.
He annoyedly jabbed the button for the elevator before waiting with his brows furrowed. Once the elevator came, he went down
and immediately left the hotel for the beach.
There were still small groups of twos and threes hanging around at the beach when he arrived. The lighting at the area was dim,
and some individuals who couldn’t control themselves just hugged and kissed one another in public.
John found himself focusing on these people, but he stared at a few couples only to find that they weren’t Sophia. He ran his
tongue across the back of his teeth.
If I hadn’t promised Old Mr. Constance that I would take good care of Sophia for the rest of her life, I wouldn’t even have come
out to the beach. With that thought, he continued to walk further down the beach.
At the same time, both Sophia and the singer were indeed standing by the sea, feeling the breeze against their faces as they
chit-chatted. She found out that the singer was a drifter that traveled all over the country.
He said that he’d stay once he found a good place and leave whenever he got bored. With her arms wrapped around her
shoulders, she asked, “Why haven’t you thought of settling down?”
The singer smiled as he explained, “Perhaps I haven’t found the right person to make me want to settle down.” He then turned
toward her. “What about you? Was that really your brother?”
She shook her head. “No, he’s just a friend. He’s here for work, but I’m here for...” She paused and lowered her head with a light
chuckle. “I’m here to heal myself, I guess. I got a divorce just recently.” She was simply too desperate to find herself a listener,
someone who’d let her talk.
Her words clearly came as a shock to the singer. He looked at her for a little before he said, “You look really young; I wouldn’t
have expected you to be married.” He paused. “Why did you get a divorce? Did you guys have a fight? Or was it a matter of
someone doing something morally incorrect?”

She shook her head again. “No; no one did anything wrong. It was simply because he didn’t love me anymore. Why should I hold
onto a man that doesn’t love me, right?” She turned to the singer and smiled lightly. He was at a loss for words then.
With his guitar still in his hand, he contemplated for a moment before he offered, “Why don’t I sing you a song? I’m bad at
comforting people.” Sophia thought of the slow, melodious song that she had heard at the bar earlier and how much she liked it.
She therefore nodded and said, “Sure.”
The singer then sat himself down on a huge rock nearby, cleared his voice, and began to sing while he strummed on the guitar.
Sophia stood beside him, her body facing toward the ocean and her hair ruffled by the sea breeze. The singer’s voice was
muffled by the sound of the wind, and she couldn’t hear it too clearly, but she felt an oddly depressing sensation in her chest
regardless.
Up to this point in life, she had been through countless experiences—most of them bad ones—but she had never cried over
them.
She was never good at expressing her emotions through her tears, but right then, she didn’t seem to have control over her
feelings. With a smile still on her face, she rubbed her hands across her eyes as she said, “I don’t know what’s up with me; my
eyes are a little uncomfortable.”
The singer glanced at her, his voice pausing for a moment before he continued. John arrived to see this scene happening.
Sophia was standing by the ocean, with her face in her hands and her body hunched downward a little.
She was already a skinny and small-framed girl to begin with, and she looked especially pitiful now that she was curled up like
this. He didn’t even pay any attention to the man beside her as he watched how Sophia’s shoulders were trembling.
She might be crying, but the sound of the ocean drowned her cries. John simply stood on the spot and watched her without
heading over immediately.
Once the singer finished the song, he thought for a while before he stood up and edged toward Sophia while reaching his arm
out. “I don’t have anything to dry your tears; why don’t I let you use my sleeve?”
It only took a short while for her to dry her tears before she laughed and replied, “It’s fine. The sea breeze dried most of it.” The
singer watched her as he heaved a sigh.

Then she tidied her hair up before she turned toward him and uttered, “I feel a lot better now. Your song...” She froze right then,
as she saw John standing a distance away from them.