With Greg's reassurance, Wendy no longer needed to defend herself, no longer needed to prove herself, no longer needed to face everyone's suspicion and accusations all alone.
Because someone had chosen to believe in her from the very beginning, she hadn't been abandoned by everyone. Someone was holding firmly on to her!
That trust was like a fire, burning away the despair and cold in Wendy's heart bit by bit, replacing them with a warmth and security she had never experienced before.
It was a warmth even fiercer than what she had felt when Sarah stood up for her all those years ago, because this time, Greg had staked not just a few words, but everything he had.
Wendy raised her head. From this angle, she could see Greg's sharply defined profile.
She suddenly remembered the picture books she had leafed through countless times by candlelight in her bedchamber as a child, the artist's delicate strokes depicting a prince carrying a princess away from the Tower after defeating an evil dragon.
Those scenes had filled her with countless dreams before she fell asleep. She had once thought they were merely fairy tales written for children, fantasies that would never become reality.
Yet now, held securely in arms just as warm and strong, carried through the smoke and clamor, she felt as though she really had become the rescued princess from that picture book.
Wendy gently rested her cheek against Greg's chest. Through his clothes, she could feel his steady, powerful heartbeat, a reassuring rhythm like a lighthouse that never went dark in the night.
She closed her eyes, savoring that warmth and touch, then silently wondered:
If I stayed by his side forever too, would I one day be able to find that thing called "happiness"?
*Not some weightless line