Jenny Parker said, “Back then, when you suddenly disappeared without a trace, Brian Carter contacted everyone you knew to ask about you, filed a report with the police, asked his family and all his friends to keep an eye out for you—he did almost everything he could. You have no idea how many times he walked through every street and alley near your home, how long he searched. At that time, he was supposed to be preparing for exams with his advisor, but after you went missing, he never went back to school.”

Jenny Parker remembered how Brian Carter had been so thin he was almost unrecognizable—“gaunt” didn’t even begin to describe his state. She and her boyfriend at the time were worried about him, so they often went to check on him, asking if there was any news about Alice Grant. Once, they found Brian Carter collapsed at his doorstep, the key still in the lock, but the door unopened—he had just fainted right there.

They took Brian Carter to the hospital, and when he woke up, he broke down in tears. By then, Alice Grant had been missing for over three months. Brian Carter, in utter despair, asked them what he would do if Alice Grant was already dead, what if she’d run into a murderer, been killed, and her body hidden somewhere no one could find.

At the time, she thought that if Brian Carter kept going like this, he wouldn’t be able to take it much longer.

But later, he managed to pull through. He became much calmer, and although he was still running around trying to find Alice Grant, he was no longer as despondent as before. A year later, he returned to school to continue his studies. Jenny Parker thought he was fine, but only later did she realize that Brian Carter’s anxiety disorder had never really improved. To suppress his anxiety, he took all sorts of medication, almost ruining his health.

“Wasn’t there a period when several high-profile cases about women being harmed were in the news? Brian Carter said he was afraid you’d end up like those women. He had severe anxiety for years.”

Alice Grant had thought that her sudden disappearance would make Brian Carter sad, but she never imagined the damage it would cause him would be so great.

“So… what happened after that?” Alice Grant asked softly.

Jenny Parker thought for a moment and said, “There was a period when I didn’t keep in touch with him much. After he finished his doctorate, he spent almost ten years teaching in rural villages. He went to many remote places. We all thought he was just trying to relax, but when he came back and invited us all to dinner, he finally told us the real reason.”

“He said that one day he saw a news report about human traffickers abducting young women and selling them to remote villages. He had several nightmares, dreaming that you were kidnapped by traffickers and locked in a dark room with no one to save you. So when he saw the school had a volunteer teaching program, he signed up on a whim, and not even his advisor could stop him.”

After several years of teaching, Brian Carter came back and invited them to dinner. Jenny Parker could barely recognize him—he was tanned, thin, and weather-beaten, but the one comforting thing was that his spirits had improved a lot, and he could talk and laugh like he used to.

“These years, I’ve traveled to so many places. I kept thinking, what if I really found her in one of those places? And what if I didn’t?” The look on Brian Carter’s face when he said this left a deep impression on Jenny Parker.

By then, Alice Grant had been missing for over a decade. In that moment, Jenny Parker felt a bit ashamed. Even though she still missed her good friend, she already had a family, a husband, and children—these things had diluted her longing and concern for her friend. It seemed like they had all moved on with their lives, except for Brian Carter, who still couldn’t let go.

Bit by bit, Jenny Parker recounted everything she knew about Brian Carter over the years. In her fragmented descriptions, Alice Grant saw, across the vast gulf of forty years, that lonely figure. He was like a widowed wild goose, flying north and south, through the changing seasons, always alone.

That kind of sorrow and pain, creeping in from who knows where, clung to Alice Grant’s heart, making her chest tighten as if pricked by needles.

“He never tried to find someone else?” Alice Grant asked quietly.

Jenny Parker shook her head.

Alice Grant remembered the thought she’d had when she walked into her house the day before yesterday. She’d thought, after all these years, Brian Carter must have remarried, maybe even had children. But now she realized that Brian Carter was even more stubborn than she’d imagined.

Alice Grant felt tears welling up in her eyes, as if a dam had burst. She wasn’t someone who cried easily. In her rebellious youth, she believed in bleeding but not crying. As an adult, she was laid-back, living life as she pleased, always seeking happiness—she rarely cried. But now, she just couldn’t stop, as if she wasn’t crying for herself, but for that man who had walked alone from youth into old age.

Jenny Parker sat down beside her, pulled out a tissue to wipe her tears, and wiped her own as well. But even though this old lady wasn’t crying anymore, Alice Grant still couldn’t stop.

“Oh, Alice, please don’t cry, your eyes are all swollen. Just stop for a bit, okay?” Jenny Parker, the old lady, waved her hands, heart aching to see her like this.

“Please don’t cry anymore. Everything’s fine now, you’re back, it’s all good. From now on, you both will be just fine.”