Those hard to let go of people and things

1:
"In 2008, my brother had a car accident. He was 23 that year and became paralyzed from the waist down, confined to his bed. His girlfriend was on a business trip in another city at the time. Upon hearing the news, she rushed back overnight. When she arrived at the hospital, she didn’t cry—instead, she smiled, leaned her head against my brother’s, and said, 'Don’t worry, I’ll always be by your side.' At the time, we all thought it was just empty comfort and didn’t take it seriously.

But she truly meant it. From 2008 to 2017, she stayed by his side for nine years, aging from 20 to 29. In early 2017, my brother passed away. That day was bright and sunny, and it was the first time I saw her cry. My family often said she had sacrificed her future for him. For the next four years, she helped our family with the business.

I wasn’t particularly close to her—I’m not sweet-tongued and don’t like getting too close to people. I could never bring myself to say the words of gratitude I felt, but she truly, truly was the best girl I’ve ever known. Beautiful and kind. I always called her 'sister,' and I did so for 16 years.

Last year, she got married. The man who married her is so lucky. But for us, we had the fate to meet, yet not the fate to become family. I was happy for her—she had finally found her happiness. On the day of the wedding, I went to her place early to help. When we met, she pulled me aside and whispered in my ear, 'Can you call me "sister-in-law" just once? Tomorrow, I’ll be someone else’s wife.'

At that moment, tears welled up in my eyes all at once.

2：
"There was a young girl who had just graduated. She had grown up relying only on her grandmother. After starting work, she faced hardships and felt wronged. One day, she called her grandmother, trying hard to suppress her emotions and keep her voice steady. But her grandmother could still tell something was wrong. Yet, her grandmother didn’t ask or say anything about it—she just told the girl to eat well.

The next afternoon, the girl received a call from her family: her grandmother had passed away. It turned out that her grandmother, sensing the girl’s distress, had decided to visit her in the city. She had set out with a small piece of paper bearing the girl’s address. On the way, she was hit by a car. When they found her, she was still clutching that little note, with broken eggs and spilled pork rib soup scattered beside her."