With a loud honk, a car headed towards Sabine.

“Sabine ! Move ! Move away !” Andrew shouted fanatically. But Sabine didn’t hear him. She squatted down to pick up the crushed paper crane. The approaching car gave out a sharp screeching sound, followed by a loud thud. Sabine who was being flung a few metres into the air, landed a short distance away. Andrew was hysterical. He ran across the road with no regard for the oncoming traffic to where Sabine was. He was devastated to see her lying in a pool of blood. He held on to her and apologised profusely for what he had done. Sabine held up the paper crane and handed it to him. She then motioned her lips to say the three words that Andrew had always wanted her to say to him. Andrew nodded uncontrollably, assuring her that he loved her too. Wearing a satisfied smile, Sabine closed her eyes for the last time.

It had been two weeks since Sabine was cremated and Andrew who blamed himself for her death, had been living like a crazy person and going through his days with guiltiness. If he hadn’t thrown away the paper crane, Sabine would still be by his side. But now all that was left were the paper cranes that she had given him. He couldn’t understand why Sabine would risk her life to retrieve the final paper crane. Why was she so silly? What was on the paper crane that was more important than her life? He took out the paper crane which was stained with Sabine’s blood. He straightened out the crumbled paper and was shocked by what he discovered. There was a message on it.

Andrew Dear,
This is the 99th paper crane that you are getting from me. Do you know why I’m giving you 99 paper cranes? That’s because ‘99’ means ‘久久’. I have been too shy to tell you how much I love you and if you can forgive me for not having done so earlier, I promised to say ‘I Love You’ every day till the day I die. Andrew Dear 我爱你, 长长久久.

Suddenly, Andrew understood why Sabine had been giving him all those paper cranes. They were not meant to console him but to convey her feelings for him. He took out all the paper cranes that Sabine had given him. He counted them and true enough there were 99 paper cranes in all. He unfolded one of the cranes and as expected there was a hidden message. The words ‘I Love You’ were written on it. He undid all the other cranes and each had the same three words written on it. Sabine had actually been expressing her love for him through the paper cranes.

Tears flowed down his cheeks. How could he have been so careless as to not to notice the message in the paper cranes? What a fool he had been. Just then he took out a pen. He wrote the word ‘More’ after the three words that Sabine had written. He did the same for all the other paper cranes and then patiently folded them back into shape. He then placed all the 99 paper cranes into a bottle and sealed it up.

The next day, Andrew went down to the temple where Sabine’s ash was kept. He placed the bottle of paper cranes next to her urn. He begged for her forgiveness and for having been so blinded by jealousy that he failed to discover her secret message until it was too late.

As he walked out of the temple, Andrew ran into an old friend. After exchanging greetings, the friend noticed that Andrew was alone.

“Eh, your girlfriend not with you?”

Pointing to his heart, Andrew said, “Yes she is. She is with me all the time.”