Chapter Nine: With Me

A couple of weeks had passed, and the campus had transitioned into fall. The nearby cafe on the college campus was quieter than usual, as students prepared for their mid-term exams. The late autumn light cast golden streaks across the wooden floor. Jasmine stepped inside, her coat still damp from the drizzle outside. She immediately spotted Dean—sitting at the same corner table, maintaining his usual quiet posture, but something in his eyes had changed. There was less waiting and more hope, a longing for forgiveness and acceptance. She walked over slowly, her heart steady but cautious.

Dean felt uncertain, torn between reaching out to her and giving her space. Jasmine sat down first and then nodded for him to join her.

“I read your letter,” she said. “About the scholarship. About the name.”

Dean swallowed hard. “She meant a lot to you. I wanted the world to know that.”

Jasmine looked down at her hands. “You didn’t just honor her; you honored me—my story, my voice.”

Dean leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and speaking softly. “I didn’t realize what it meant to stand by someone until I almost lost you. I used to think that love was enough. But love without accountability is just comfort.”

Jasmine’s eyes met his. “And comfort without truth is just silence.”

They sat in that silence for a moment—not the kind that divides, but the kind that heals.

“I’m not the same person I was,” Jasmine said. “I’ve grown. I’ve learned what I need. What I won’t compromise.”

Dean nodded. “I don’t want the old version of us. I want the one we build now. With intention. With honesty.”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a folded piece of paper—a poem titled "With Me." She slid it across the table. Dean read the passage slowly, his eyes misting as he reached the final lines:

“So if you choose me, choose the storm and the stillness.

Choose the truth, not the tale.

Choose to walk—not behind, not beside—but with me.”

He looked up and said, “I do.”

Jasmine smiles, “Then let’s begin again.”

Dean reached for her hand, and this time, she didn’t pull away from him, and they walked together.