The Successor
林允熙 stood by the hospital window, holding a cup of coffee that had long gone cold. Outside, Taipei was shrouded in the gray rainy season, rain sliding down the glass like countless blurred tear stains.
She was thirty-two, a nurse, wearing a white coat, hair casually tied up, eyes filled with exhaustion that could never be wiped away.
Her phone lit up with a message from her boyfriend:
「Working late tonight, will be home later.」
She smiled and replied with a hug emoji, yet felt a slight sense of relief in her heart.
That peace of mind was a disguise she had learned over the years.
At least, compared to her past self, she was living a more vibrant life now.
She had a stable job, a gentle partner, and moments of calm that could occasionally deceive even herself.
But in the quiet of the night, the regrets of the past would emerge like monsters from memory, silently opening their jaws to swallow her whole.
Ten years ago, at the celebration banquet after the freshman orientation, twenty-two-year-old 林允熙 had her first deep encounter with 陳崇宇.
It was a lively night, the campsite barbecue area brightly lit, freshmen and seniors laughing and playing together.
允熙 was a new nursing student who had been busy all day in the medical team. Afterward, she volunteered to help grill meat and distribute it to everyone.
陳崇宇 was a third-year medical student and head of the medical team, but at that moment he sat alone on a bench in the corner, head down looking at his phone, brows furrowed. He lit a cigarette and took a deep, irritable drag, the smoke drifting away in the night breeze. He looked as if he had just argued with his girlfriend.
允熙 walked over with a plate of freshly grilled skewers and asked softly, 「Senior, are you okay? You look like you're alone…」 She handed him the skewers, her eyes full of concern.
陳崇宇 looked up, recognized the busy nursing junior, and paused for a moment.
He quickly put away his phone, extinguished the cigarette, and politely nodded in thanks:
「Thank you, junior. I'm fine. Just tired from the event.」
His voice was low, tinged with fatigue, yet when he took the skewers, his gaze softened slightly.
In that moment, their eyes met in the night.
From that day on, they became a seamless team in the medical group and began a relationship as passionate as children.
In the days after the orientation, he taught her first aid, while she found time between her busy studies to help him review.
They went to Yangmingshan to see the night view; he held her hand and shared his dream of becoming a surgeon;
She smiled and said she wanted to be a gentle nurse, protecting those around her.
Before exams, he stayed up with her;
When she felt unwell, he was always the first to appear.
Back then, they thought it would last forever.
But time is truly a monster with legs, running incredibly fast.
After graduation, 崇宇 went abroad for further studies, while 允熙 stayed in Taiwan to work at a hospital.
The days of long-distance love were like a dull knife, slowly cutting away at their patience.
In video calls, he grew busier, the calls shorter.
She began to wonder if she had become a burden to him.
During one transoceanic argument, she cried and said:
「崇宇, if you're tired, just let go.」
He was silent for a long time, then only replied: 「允熙, I love you, but I also need time to prove myself.」
That winter, they broke up.
There was no dramatic betrayal, only the exhaustion of growing apart.
On the day they parted, Taipei was drizzling with winter rain. She stood outside the airport, watching his plane take off, tears mixing with rain on her face.
It felt as if we were all there then. Everything from that time came flooding back.
The first meeting at the banquet corner, the warmth of the grilled skewers, the vows on Yangmingshan… those fragments, like old photos, flipped through her mind one by one.
In the first year after the breakup, she thought she would collapse.
Every day she stayed busy at the hospital, forcing smiles, then crying into her pillow until dawn after work.
When friends introduced her to men, she refused;
At night when she thought of him, she would secretly check his social media, only to find he had already started a new life.
Turns out he healed faster....
She was still in the same place, clinging to those memories and refusing to move on.
While he seemed to have moved forward.
Until five years later, she ran into him in the hospital corridor.
陳崇宇 had become a renowned surgeon, wearing a white coat, his demeanor more composed, yet his eyes carried a hint of weariness.
By his side was a young female doctor, smiling with eyes curved like hers from back then.
They greeted politely. He asked how she was doing; she said she was fine, with a stable boyfriend.
He nodded and said, 「That's good. I'm lucky too, I met 小薇.」
In that moment, she felt at peace.
Glad that your life afterward wasn't so tarnished.
Far more vibrant than mine.
He had a new successor, and so did she.
On the surface, both seemed to be doing well.
But at night when she returned home and lay in bed, tears couldn't help but fall.
Thankfully there were tears to dilute the bitterness, and smiles to allow joy.
Those who passed through and the successors left behind were merely placebos given by time.
The real wounds never healed; they were only temporarily covered by new lives.
崇宇's life wasn't as vibrant as she had imagined.
After the breakup, while struggling abroad, he appeared successful on the surface but felt empty inside.
小薇 was a colleague at the hospital, gentle and considerate, accompanying him through the toughest internship period.
He thought he had healed and threw himself into a new relationship.
But every time the operating room lights came on, he remembered 允熙 bringing him that plate of grilled meat at the banquet;
Whenever 小薇 smiled and called him 「崇宇」,
he would vaguely hear 允熙 softly calling 「Senior」.
There were times when he would reopen those memories.
The regrets of the past would grow wildly like weeds during those moments when memories raged.
In their last phone call before breaking up, he had actually wanted to say 「I'll come back for you」, but swallowed it out of pride.
Later, hearing she had a new boyfriend, he chose silence, glad she wasn't so tarnished, glad he hadn't dragged her down.
Two more years passed.
During Taipei's cherry blossom season, 允熙 and her boyfriend went for a walk on Yangmingshan.
Her boyfriend held her hand and said he wanted to get married.
She smiled and said to wait a bit longer.
Around the corner, she saw 陳崇宇 sitting alone on a bench, holding an old orientation commemorative badge—the one they had kept as a memento after the banquet.
He looked up, and their eyes met.
In that instant, time seemed to flow backward.
It felt as if we were all there then.
Everything from that time came flooding back.
He stood up, wanting to walk over, but stopped in place.
She wanted to run toward him, but was gently held back by her boyfriend.
「What's wrong?」 her boyfriend asked.
She shook her head and said, 「Nothing, just saw an old friend.」
They didn't speak, only gazed at each other from afar.
陳崇宇's eyes glistened with tears. As she turned to leave, she heard a familiar voice from behind, low, like that night at the banquet corner:
「允熙, take care.」
After returning home, she cried for a long time.
Her boyfriend held her and asked what was wrong.
She said nothing, only held him tightly.
Thankfully there were tears to dilute the bitterness.
Thankfully there were smiles to allow joy.
And 陳崇宇, after returning home, sat in his study and opened the badge.
On the back was still engraved the simple words of care she had written back then.
Sometimes it seems we've all left for our own worlds since then.
But those regrets never truly disappeared.
Who is whose successor?
Perhaps every relationship has its successor.
New love, new companionship, new life.
But that original child, the self who was moved by a plate of grilled meat in the banquet corner, remains forever in place, waiting for an answer that will never return.
允熙 later married, the wedding simple and warm.
陳崇宇 was also promoted to director of the hospital.
小薇 stayed by his side, and they planned to have children.
Everything seemed so perfect; in the world of emotions, there's no need to compete. Knowing each is well is enough.
Yet on certain rainy nights, 允熙 would suddenly wake up, dreaming of her younger self carrying grilled meat toward him in the corner.
陳崇宇, exhausted after surgery, would also open an old photo on his phone that he had never deleted... their smiling group photo after the banquet, and softly say, 「允熙, I'm sorry.」
The regrets of the past would reopen during those moments when memories raged.
Then, they continued to smile and move forward.
Because life always needs successors to take over those broken, irretrievable loves.
And that love, like an old song, plays repeatedly in the heart.
In truth, no one truly heals.
We merely learn to hide our wounds in new stories, pretending we've grown up.
The End
#ShortStory#NovelCreation#Love#OneSongOneStory