She was always so stubbornly strong.
"Aurora Dupont, you're a girl. You're allowed to be weak."
"Sorry," Aurora said, "Kai Piers, I've been alone for so many years. If I'd been weak, I would've been trampled beyond recognition."
She extended her hand to him, "I don't want to depend on any man either. I don't need it. I am myself, the master of my own life. Let me go, I won't run. I can't ... run anymore, Kai Piers."
Kai Piers looked at her. He looked at her eyes, her wounds, her pursed red lips.
Aurora looked back at him. She recognized Kai Piers even after so many years. He was still the same, unchanged in appearance, still as handsome as ever.
He was still him, truly
Kai Piers now, even though he had aged, his eyes and eyebrows still held the same look as before. He didn't look old, instead he seemed more mature.
But she had aged.
Perhaps men could afford to be carefree and squander their lives. They could afford to be delayed.
But perhaps women, couldn't.
