Derek hung his head low. "I own up to my mistakes. Can you just give me a chance to make it right with you and the kid?"
"Nah, we're fine without you, Derek. The best thing you can do for me is just stay the hell away."
"Tabitha, do you really hate me that much?"
"Yeah, I do. I hate you. I hate how you put me through all that hell. I hate how you spun this whole fucked-up dream for me and then ripped it all away. I hate that you made me into what I am today."
Derek's gaze dimmed like the moon suddenly obscured by dark clouds.
After a long silence, Derek muttered in a choked voice, "Sorry."
He stared hard at Tabitha. "I lied to you again. My vision's back. I just kept pretending to be blind 'cause I didn't want to leave. You probably hate me even more now. I really don't wanna say sorry again, but I always fuck things up. In the end, I just end up hurting you again. You're right. I am selfish and obsessive. You must really regret knowing me."
He wanted to reach out and hold her one more time but couldn't bring himself to take that step.
"All the mess started with me. I brought this on myself. I was wrong. I shouldn't have tried to reel you back in," he said.
Derek slowly got to his feet. "Tabitha, over three years have passed, and it turns out the one who couldn't move on was me..."
He looked down at her from above, his eyes filled with desolation.
"I'll take my leave now."
With that, he turned and walked away without another glance. Though he wasn't hurt, he seemed torn to pieces, his body covered in invisible wounds, like a lone wolf in the wilderness with only the moon for company.
Tabitha's fingers trembled. She knew she could reach out and stop him if she wanted to.
But her rational side held her back. What would stopping him achieve?
Letting him stay and relive the past suffering?
If they were meant to part ways, why would she turn back now?
Yet, even though it was her own decision, her heart still ached, and her tears flowed more fiercely than before.
Back in the courtyard, Tabitha washed away every trace of Derek, but his kiss marks were still all over her body.
She could still remember the warmth of his lips on her skin. He had been so gentle.
Tabitha clutched her head, feeling panicked and at a loss.
Derek had caught her off guard with this move, throwing her into chaos and completely messing her heart.
She had no idea how she was going to face him the next day.
Tabitha lay awake all night until dawn. She kept questioning whether her words last night had been too harsh.
As she was still torn with doubts, Spike's voice came from outside the door, "Tabitha, Alpha Derek is gone."
Tabitha's eyes flew open, and she leaped out of bed, not even bothering to put on her shoes as she flung open the door. "What did you say?"
Spike looked flustered. "I found this in his room."
One note was for him, telling him to stay and focus on his treatment.
The other was a thick envelope.
"Alpha Derek thought he was dying when he wrote this, and this letter is for you," Spike explained.
Tabitha took the weighty letter and returned to her room to open it.
The first thing she saw was his familiar handwriting—neat and precise, unlike the messy scrawl of his signature, each stroke as meticulous as the man himself.
"Tabitha, by the time you this read, I'm probably already gone from this world.
"Would you be happy or maybe just a little bit sad when you hear the news? Now that death is near, I find I'm not as scared as I imagined. In fact, I'm filled with a strange sense of peace. If death is the price to be reunited with you, then so be it.
"These three years without you, I've thought of you constantly, every single moment. I must be poisoned, with no antidote except you.
"Don't worry about Kyrian. He's grown taller and stronger. Our son is exceptional. He received a meritorious award last year. I know you'll blame me for not taking good care of him, for letting him risk his life.
"But only through such trials can he grow better and faster. Even if I die one day, he'll be able to take care of you.
"Without your guidance, he's as quiet as I am. There's more silence than communication between us. He often sits with the little lock you gave him, staring at it for entire afternoons.
"I know that boy misses you. If you're reading this, go back to him when the cherry blossoms bloom in spring.
"You promised to visit him when the sakura flowers. So every year when they bloom, he returns to the island where you three once stayed together.
"From sunset to sunrise, from the first bloom to the last petal falling, he waits for you through the entire flower season.
"Helios and Ayla must have grown taller too. It's my lifelong regret that I couldn't hear them call me 'dad.' I love these two kids so much, yet I failed to be the father I should have been.
"I'm on my deathbed, and I've already categorized and organized my assets. None of the three kids will be left out.
"As for you, Tabitha, I have so many things I want to say to you..."
The letter went on for pages. On the second to last page, Derek confessed everything about Wilmot.