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Author pov

The bustling chatter of the college graduation party, the dazzle of colorful lights, and Zeeshan’s bright, love-filled eyes—everything now felt to Scarlet like a blurred memory from the distant past. As she walked along the familiar roads of Doolin village toward the cliffs, her heart felt as if it were literally shattering into pieces. There was no strength left in her legs, yet an invisible pull urged her forward to the edge of that steep, rocky cliff where the world seemed to come to an end.
She came to a halt right at the peak of the cliffs. Here, this massive wall of Irish rock plunges 700 feet straight down into the heart of the Atlantic Ocean. Today, nature itself seemed to have taken on a ferocious form to match the broken state of Scarlet’s mind.
As afternoon faded into evening, the sky was so heavily cloaked in a blanket of fog and clouds that it felt as though the day had ended long ago. The wind here was no ordinary breeze; it roared like a raging giant. The salty, freezing cold wind rushing from the sea lashed against Scarlet’s face like a whip. Just standing there against the wind was a struggle. The carpet of green grass atop the cliffs lay flattened against the earth under the wind's sheer pressure. In the distance, O'Brien's Tower stood like a lonely sentinel hidden behind the mist.
The most terrifying sound came from below—the roar of the Atlantic. Hundreds of feet below, massive dark blue waves crashed violently against the rock face. The sound was so thunderous it felt as if a thousand cannons were firing at once. Breaking against the cliffside, the waves turned into white foam, and spray from that foam was carried up by the wind straight into Scarlet’s face. That salt water mingled with her tears, becoming one and the same.
Scarlet was wearing the most beautiful dress she had chosen for her graduation day—a deep maroon velvet long dress. It had full sleeves reaching down to her wrists and a slender golden belt at the waist. Scarlet had saved up little by little over a long time to buy it!
She had thought that when she confessed her feelings to Zeeshan in this dress, he would look at her in utter fascination. But now, that same velvet dress clung tightly to her body under the lashing of the freezing wind. Her entire frame shivered violently from the cold. The fingers on her fair hands had turned blue, and her feet were completely numb. The subtle makeup done for the celebration had been washed away by rain sprays and tears, leaving dark streaks on her swollen cheeks. Her silky red hair blew wildly in the force of the wind, repeatedly falling over her face and hiding her doe-like eyes...
She had been wearing high heels, which she must have shed somewhere along the path to the cliffs long ago. Now her bare feet stood upon that sharp, freezing ground, yet she felt no physical pain. Compared to the agony inside her heart, this bodily distress was trivial. Scarlet's inner world was completely silent, dead. Before her eyes, Zeeshan’s shy smile kept flashing continuously—the moment he had held his lover's hand. "I love her, Scarlet"—these few words kept echoing in her ears like a haunting chant over and over again. Every dream and plan she had nurtured since childhood had turned to dust in a single instant. She felt entirely alone and worthless in this world. Without Zeeshan, this beautiful world was nothing more than a poisonous desert to her.
It was an undeniable truth that she had no one except Zeeshan... Since childhood, no one in the orphanage would associate with her because of her strangely colored heterochromatic eyes—no one except Zeeshan. Thus, he had become her entire world, a world meant for Scarlet alone. How could she accept the intrusion of an unwanted guest into that world? Now that her world no longer existed, her life had no meaning. There was no fear in her heart, no hesitation. There was only a deep, unbearable agony from which she desperately sought release. This roaring sea and its bottomless depth seemed to call out to her—promising to make her forget all her pain.
She took another step closer, right to the very edge. Suddenly, a cry welled up from deep within her chest, centered entirely around Zeeshan... "Save me, Zeeshan! I want to live with you! I’m in so much pain... I! I won't survive—look, today I stand at death's door! No one is coming to save me, I have no one, no one will cry for my death except you. Please Zeeshan... I have no one! You are all I have..."
Loose pebbles beneath Scarlet’s feet tumbled down into the abyss. She closed her eyes. The howling of the wind grew even louder. For a split second, Zeeshan’s face floated into her mind—one last time. With a deep sigh, Scarlet spread both her arms to the sides, as if unfurling wings. Her maroon dress billowed backward against the force of the wind.
And then... she jumped.
For a moment, time felt as if the speed of the wind had halted completely. She was falling straight down. Her maroon dress fluttered around her like a flame of fire. The wind whistled sharply past her ears. The raging sea below rushed rapidly toward her. The sheer rocks along the cliff face shot upward past her eyes like arrows.
She was falling... free, solitary, and entirely destitute.
Carrying her broken heart, her numb body, the years of memories spent with Zeeshan, and her velvet dress—Scarlet plunged toward the roaring, ice-cold, dark blue waters of the Atlantic. And from above, all that could be seen was a lonely maroon silhouette merging into the fierce grandeur of nature.
Suddenly, drowning out all the ocean's roars, a wondrous melody drifted up from the infinite depths. The language of no human tongue could describe that sound. It was like the mournful ragini of an ancient flute, yet simultaneously the gentle hum of a deep waterfall. The melody began to spread through Scarlet’s subconscious like magic, as though the song was whispering something to her.
At the exact moment her heavy eyelids closed completely, she sensed that the icy freeze of the water had vanished in a flash. An unprecedented warmth enveloped her paralyzed body. Two immensely powerful, sculpted arms reached underneath her waist and back, gently lifting her up. Unconscious, Scarlet’s disheveled red hair floated upon the ocean water; that mysterious entity leaned down to her face and pressed its lips against hers.
It was not merely a kiss of love; it was an exchange of the ancient breath of life from the deep ocean. As a enchanting light flowed into the inside of Scarlet's lips, all the salt water in her lungs evaporated in a second, and the suffocating pain vanished instantly. Scarlet slipped completely out of consciousness, but an ethereal, soothing touch remained lingering on her lips.

To be continued...