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Then she nodded. 'Yes, that's true. It's personal experience, and it applies not only to work.'
The pain that briefly crossed her face betrayed that there was intense pain in the past.
'Maybe there was some idiot who didn't see what he had until he had destroyed everything?' I asked.
A laugh broke through, and the sound echoed in the tower. 'Yes, that's right.'
'That's how we men are sometimes.'
'You too?'
'Yes, me too.' I looked at her. 'But does the excuse that I was still in puberty at the time count?'
Her gaze surveyed me. She nodded. 'I hope she doesn't suffer from it anymore.'
She jumped off the wall, and I felt the distance between us grow. It was as if I had triggered her pain. And I didn't want that. I wanted to hear that laugh.
'Sara, I'm sorry,' I said and stood up. 'The last thing I wanted was to stir up painful memories for you. But what's in the past should stay there.'
She looked at me for a moment and then laughed. 'Yes, indeed, but life has a way of triggering those feelings again and bringing them to the forefront if there's a lesson in it.' 'Really?' I asked.
Again, she laughed. 'Yes, because otherwise, you still haven't learned anything, and it happens again.'
She walked away, and I followed her automatically.
'And what have you learned?' I wanted to know.
She stopped walking and looked up at me as if she could see whether I really wanted to know what I was asking her. She glanced down for a moment and then looked me straight in the eyes again.
'I've learned that I do matter. That I can do more than I ultimately believed. That I am worth the best and should take care of myself.'
'That's quite a list. Does it mean that all these things were no longer self-evident for you?'
She smiled, but I saw a hint of pain in her light brown eyes. 'Let's say my ex was a narcissist who systematically tore me apart and never put me back together. It took me a very long time to realize that everything that went wrong wasn't my fault. I even thought and believed that I was worthless, and that's why he had a chance to break me. But in the end, I was able to rebuild myself. So, learning from the past pays off.'
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