Chapter Fifteen: The Girl Who Survived Herself
Feifei still sat by the window.
Some things didn't change just because you healed. They changed because you chose to change them — and she liked who she was when she stayed.
The classroom looked the same as it always had. Sunlight spilled across desks. Voices filled the air. Life moved on loudly, confidently, without asking permission.
But Feifei no longer felt like she was being left behind.
She watched the sky for a moment before turning back to her notebook. The pages were worn now, corners bent, ink faded in places. It held versions of her she barely recognized — the girl who swallowed everything, the girl who thought being quiet meant being weak.
She flipped to the last page.
And wrote:
I didn't survive because someone saved me.
I survived because I learned to stay.
Her chest felt warm. Steady.
Later that afternoon, she walked out of school at her own pace. Kael waited near the gate, leaning casually against the fence.
"You're smiling," he said as she approached.
She hadn't realized she was.
"Am I?" she asked.
"Yeah," he replied. "It suits you."
They walked together for a while, comfortable in the quiet. There was no urgency between them. No fear of losing something if words weren't spoken.
At the corner where they usually parted, Feifei stopped.
"I used to think breaking meant failing," she said. "But I think it was the only way I learned who I was."
Kael nodded. "Some things have to fall apart so they can be honest."
She looked at him then — really looked.
Not with need.
Not with fear.
But with clarity.
"Thank you," she said.
"For what?" he asked.
"For seeing me," she replied. "Without trying to change me."
He smiled softly. "You did the hard part yourself."
They stood there for a moment longer before going their separate ways.
Feifei walked home alone — and this time, it didn't feel lonely.
At home, she stood in front of the mirror once more.
Same girl.
Same face.
Same quiet nature.
But her eyes were different.
They held certainty.
She wasn't invisible.
She wasn't broken.
She wasn't too much or not enough.
She was present.
And that was everything.
Feifei turned off the light, closed her door, and rested — not because she was exhausted from surviving, but because she deserved peace.
The girl who never complained had finally learned something important:
She didn't need to disappear to be strong.
She just needed to exist — fully, honestly, and without apology.