2.

Early the next morning, I dug the wooden box out from the very bottom of the storage cabinet.

The lid opened, and there it lay, the restoration blade, neat in its slot.

The white tape wrapped around the handle had yellowed. I had wound it there myself, three years ago.

I smoothed a sheet of paper flat and made the first cut.

The tip veered off in a wobbly arc.

The second cut was worse.

By the third, the web of my hand ached from the friction, and tiny beads of blood welled up and smeared the edge of the paper.

Percy came downstairs just as I was swapping in a fresh sheet.

“You're going to Cloudcrest Abbey. When did you decide that?”

“Last night.”

He crossed to the table, his gaze dropping to the wooden box.

“You haven't touched a restoration blade in three years.”

“That's why I'm practicing.”

“Conditions at Cloudcrest Abbey are rough. Big temperature swings between day and night up in the mountains. Your stomach's bad, your wrist has an old injury, and this is a formal trial restoration, not a sightseeing trip.”

“I know.”

Percy drew in a long breath.

“You could start with something simpler.”

“The university archive room, or organizing image records. Both are close to home, and there'd be people around to look after you.”

I lifted my head and looked at him, not understanding.

“Are you arranging a job for me, or are you turning down the trial on my behalf?”

His face darkened a shade.

“Gladys, I just don't think it's good for you to jump straight to something this demanding.”

“Three years ago I already passed the edge-zone baseline testing.”

“That was three years ago.”

“Three years ago I didn't keep going because you were preparing for your professional review.”

He rubbed the space between his brows.

“You were the one who said you wanted to stay and help me.”

I folded up the bloodied sheet and kept working.

“Right. And you just told me, every so often, that there was no need. Once the review was over, no need.”

“Then you took on a new research project, and still no need.”

Percy's fingers gripped the edge of the table.

He was about to say something more when the doorbell rang.

Julia stood outside the door, a gray file envelope in her hand.

“Mr. Matthews left his hard drive at my place. I was passing by, so I brought it over.”

Once she was inside, her eyes landed on the restoration blade on the table.

“So his wife used to work on the north wall restoration?”

Before I could answer, she turned back to Percy.

“Didn't you say she couldn't keep at it three years ago because of health reasons?”

I looked at Percy with something that wasn't quite a smile.

But he didn't correct her.

Julia opened the file envelope and pulled out a document.

“The image-interpretation group needs the old north-wall records this time. I've already organized the edge-testing data from three years ago into an attachment.”

“If you're just going to sit in and observe, I can send you the procedures ahead of time.”

Her words were polite, but her fingers pressed down on that stack of records.

That was the material I'd pulled several all-nighters to compile, three years ago.

“My work doesn't need you sending me the procedures.”

Percy took the file envelope.

“Julia, put the material in the study.”

“Okay.”

As she turned to go, she added something, as if it had just come to mind:

“Oh, right, Mr. Matthews, we're going up to Cloudcrest Abbey with the image group tomorrow. I'm still handling project liaison.”

I looked at Percy.

“You're going too?”

“Yes.”

“When was that decided?”

“At the joint project meeting last week.”

“You knew I'd gotten the trial-restoration credential?”

He didn't answer right away.

This time, the silence was answer enough.

“I thought you wouldn't go.”

“So it isn't that you didn't tell me.”

I picked the restoration blade back up.

“You just decided for me that I wouldn't go.”

Percy's jaw tightened.

“Both teams will be up on that mountain. Running into each other will be awkward.”

“And who's the one who'd find it awkward?”

He pressed his lips together.

I didn't wait for his answer. I picked up my phone and bought a ticket.

Six-forty tomorrow morning, leaving with the Cloudcrest Abbey restoration team.

Percy saw the order, and his face went fully dark.

“You really have to go?”

“I'm not asking for your permission.”

That night, I wiped down the restoration blades one by one, then put my ID, my bank card, and my personal savings records into the same file envelope.

A message came from Jeremy.

【Don't prove anything to anyone. Tomorrow, you only need to prove it to the wall.】

3.

On the morning of the send-off ceremony, Percy called me.

"There's a box of medicine and a few scarves in the study cabinet. Take them to the school auditorium for me. The driver got reassigned at the last minute."

I said I would.

Not because I still wanted to look after anyone for him. Because I was going to the ceremony anyway.

I carried the box in.

The white label on top had three words on it: Julia Donaldson.

She was in the standard gray team uniform, standing beside Percy, going over the schedule.

The moment she saw me, she came straight over to take the box.

"Mrs. Matthews, thank you for going to all this trouble."

I didn't let go right away.

"The label has your name on it."

"Mr. Matthews said you're careful. He feels safest leaving it with you."

"So he has his wife delivering medicine to his coworker?"

A few people nearby glanced over.

Julia gave a small smile, as if she were smoothing things over for me.

"Mrs. Matthews, don't take it the wrong way. Mr. Matthews just trusts me more, that's all. I'm the one handling all the liaison work for this project."

"Your things—hold on to them yourself from now on."

She hugged the box and turned back to stand at Percy's side.

Percy saw me and came over, urgency all over his face.

As if I were something he couldn't afford to have seen.

"Just drop it off and go home."

"Today is the send-off for the Cloudcrest Abbey joint project."

I looked straight at him.

"You didn't tell me."

"I thought you didn't want to come."

"Did you ever ask me?"

He reached out to touch my arm, then stopped halfway.

"Gladys, there are a lot of people here. Don't make this ugly."

The host onstage started reading the roster.

"Project lead, Percy Matthews."

"Members of the image-interpretation group…"

"Project liaison, Julia Donaldson."

Julia walked to the front and stood beside Percy.

When the host introduced her, he made a point of adding one line:

"Ms. Donaldson is responsible for the project's schedule, records, and on-site coordination."

I stood at the back of the crowd, my fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of my phone.

My name wasn't in the brochure.

It wasn't on the send-off roster either.

Three years ago, I stood on the scaffolding against the north wall of Cloudcrest Abbey and completed the hardest section of that entire wall—the edge-zone stability testing.

Three years later, in the project about that same wall, all I had left was "Mr. Matthews's wife."

Percy came up to me and lowered his voice:

"Don't make a scene today. I'll explain everything when we get home."

"You've only just recovered. Cloudcrest Abbey isn't right for you."

I lifted my head and looked at him, stubborn.

"I already passed the expert panel's evaluation for this."

"You can't gamble with your health just because of last night."

"Is it really my health you're worried about? Or that once I show up here, people will ask why I'm not on the project roster?"

His expression shifted.

Onstage, Julia had already picked up the microphone.

She glanced down at her script, her smile composed.

"This trip to Cloudcrest Abbey is meant to let more people see the historical value of the north wall murals."

"As for the restoration arrangements, the project team has already completed the final confirmation…"

I stood at the back of the crowd and listened to my own name vanish from her speech, clean and complete.

Then footsteps came from the rear door of the hall.

Someone had pushed it open.

Jeremy Vance led the way, an old tool bag slung over his shoulder.

Behind him came Liam James of the Cloudcrest Abbey restoration team and two staff members.

All of them still carried the dust of the road.

The host saw them and let out a visible breath of relief.

"Mr. James, you've finally made it."

"I was just about to announce that the restoration team was delayed by the mountain roads."

Liam nodded, but he didn't head for the stage.

Jeremy walked straight toward me.

Under everyone's eyes, he stopped in front of me and held out a folded gray work uniform.

"Ms. Swanson, the expert panel's confirmation documents have come through."

The noise in the hall gradually stopped.

"There's only one official credential for the final trial restoration of the north wall."

"Three years ago, the edge-zone stability testing you completed is the only complete set of original data still on record."

"The restoration team unanimously agrees to reinstate your final trial-restoration credential."

He held the documents out to me.

"The car's outside. You give the word now, and we leave tonight."

Julia Donaldson stood on the stage, the pages in her hand rustling faintly.

She looked toward Percy, and the smile on her face froze bit by bit.

"But hasn't the final roster already been confirmed?"

Liam lifted his head and looked at her.

"The roster in your hand is the promotional roster submitted by the image-interpretation group. It isn't the restoration team's trial-restoration roster."

The color drained from Julia's face.

"I'm in charge of project liaison. Why was I never notified?"

"Because you're in charge of liaison, not evaluating restoration credentials."

"The north wall isn't decided by who writes a few pages of material for whom."

Percy stepped up in front of me.

"Gladys, you can't just act on impulse—"

"This isn't impulse."

I took the documents from Jeremy's hand.

The edges of the paper were stiff, pressing into my fingertips.

On it were the expert panel's signatures, and on the very bottom line, my name.

For the first time in three years, someone had confirmed it in public.

I wasn't anyone's family member, and I wasn't a name left on a list as an afterthought.

Percy's gaze fell on the documents.

"You should at least have discussed it with me."

"We're married."

"Being married doesn't mean you get to decide for me."

He put out his arm to block my way.

"Conditions up in the mountains are rough. Your stomach—"

"The restoration team will assess my health."

Liam cut him off.

"Mr. Matthews, this has nothing to do with you."

Percy's hand stopped in midair.

Up on the stage, the host didn't know whether to go on, and Julia gripped the microphone tightly, the speech in her hand crushed into a mass of creases.

I glanced down at my own hand.

The wedding ring had pressed into my ring finger for three years, leaving a faint red mark along the inside of the band.

I slid the ring off and set it in Percy's palm.

The moment the metal touched his skin, his fingers snapped shut.

"Gladys."

I looked at him.

"It started the night you had me sit in the third row."

"Percy, I didn't come here as your wife."