“Mom! Emily! Everything will be fine, I promise! I have to go!” he said firmly, kissing his mother and girlfriend goodbye. Then, waving to everyone, he resolutely boarded the train. As the train slowly pulled away, the entire group began waving energetically, as if hoping the gesture could delay the moment of parting.
Standing by the window, Ethan waved back until their figures began to fade into the distance. The train picked up speed, gave a long whistle, and soon carried the cars toward unknown horizons. Emily, the girl, stood rooted to the spot, her gaze fixed on the disappearing train.
The woman, who had just been crying on her son’s shoulder, also couldn’t tear her eyes away, and their gazes suddenly met. “Why are you still standing here?” the woman said quietly, her voice cold. “Go, but don’t fool yourself.
Ethan won’t come back to you. Forget him and move on with your life without my son.” “What are you saying, Linda?” the girl replied just as quietly, with a hint of confusion.
“I truly love your son, and I’ll definitely wait for him. I promised him. He knows I’ll wait faithfully.”
She said with conviction, her voice trembling with overwhelming emotion. “Wait for him, huh?”
“Sure!” Linda scoffed, her face twisting with anger. “You’re as flighty as your mother. Get out of here and find someone else.”
She spat venomously. “And forget about my Ethan.” Linda wanted to say something even sharper, but her husband gently put his arms around her shoulders and softly led her toward the platform exit.
Linda, burying her face in her husband’s shoulder, followed him, quietly sobbing. “Oh, James!” she whispered plaintively. “I can see exactly what kind of girl she is.”
“That girl is completely wrong for our Ethan, and she even had the nerve to show up to see him off.” James, trying to calm his wife, quietly replied, “Linda, don’t worry.
“What can we do if our son chose her? A pretty girl like that can charm anyone she wants. Even our boy couldn’t resist her.” “Oh, you men! You’re all the same!” Linda went on, her voice full of resentment.
“You’ll never understand. You always think with something other than your head.” Emily heard every word, and her heart felt heavy.
It hurt and angered her that the parents of the boy she loved treated her so unfairly. She had always tried to act with dignity and never gave cause for gossip. Ethan and Emily had been in the same class since first grade, but it was only in high school that their first shy feelings emerged.
In tenth grade, their friendship began to grow into something deeper, pure, and innocent, like a spring flower blooming after a long winter. Ethan walked Emily home every day after school, and they spent hours strolling through the quiet streets of their small town, those walks being their true happiness. They cherished each other’s company, forgetting the rest of the world.
They didn’t even think about the physical side of their relationship. It seemed that simply being together was what mattered most. Their first kiss happened two months after they confessed their feelings to each other.
Ethan loved lifting Emily into his arms and spinning her around like a little girl. She, laughing wholeheartedly, felt like the happiest person alive. Yes, they were truly happy in their youthful love.
Linda often stood by the window, watching Ethan walk Emily home. She saw how he looked at the girl and realized her son no longer belonged to her. That fear pierced her to her core.
She wanted his life to be perfect, for him to make the right choice. But what if he was wrong? What if this girl would ruin his bright future? On graduation day, while everyone celebrated, they slipped away from the noisy crowd. By the riverbank, where the sound of water drowned out all worries, they sat together, talking about the future, making plans, and embracing under the starry sky.
Hand in hand, they greeted their first adult sunrise, feeling that a big, bright future lay ahead. They didn’t care about the gossip that might have been swirling behind their backs because they knew they’d done nothing shameful. Ethan treated Emily with reverence, as the best part of his life.
After graduation, the couple decided they wanted to marry. They dreamed of a simple but heartfelt wedding with only their closest loved ones. However, their plans met unexpected and harsh resistance from Ethan’s parents.
While they had previously dismissed their son’s relationship with that “girl,” as they scornfully called Emily, as a passing fling, now, learning of his serious intentions, they grew genuinely alarmed. Ethan’s mother, Linda, immediately took action. She began persistently convincing him that Emily was not the girl to marry.
“There’ll be plenty of girls like Emily for you, son,” she often repeated irritably. Ethan’s father, James, silently supported his wife.
As always. By nature, he was a quiet, submissive man, dependent on his wife in both life and work. Linda was a manager in the city administration, heading the construction department, while James worked there as an ordinary driver.
Linda was deeply dissatisfied with her son’s choice, but what angered her most was that he wanted to tie his life to a simple girl, the daughter of a single mother. Emily’s mother, Sarah, had moved to their town years ago from the city, already pregnant. She gave birth to her daughter but never told anyone who the father was.