After everything that had happened recently, Hannah now understood that Lionel was completely lost in his own narrative, convinced that she still loved him.
"Lionel, my falling out of love with you didn't just happen in the last month or two. It was a slow accumulation of hurts, one after another, over these past three years. My love for you was eroded by you, day by day."
"Wake up. No one will forever love someone who is cruel to them. Not even a fool would do that."
With that, Hannah turned and walked away.
Samuel shot Lionel a look, tutted twice, and turned to follow Hannah inside.
Cherry finally managed to stop laughing. She walked up to Lionel and poked him in the chest.
"Wake up, you fool. Hannah stopped loving you a long time ago. For every ounce of kindness you showed Sandra over these three years, Hannah's hatred for you grew. Did you think she was a masochist? That the more you tortured her, the more she'd love you? She's not sick in the head."
After saying her piece, Cherry rolled her eyes at him and went inside.
In an instant, Lionel was left standing alone at the gate.
The paparazzi in the bushes, knowing there was nothing more to see, hesitated for a moment before leaving in twos and threes.
After all, the most important thing now was to get today's footage out, not to stand around watching Lionel stare mournfully at an iron gate.
Lionel watched through the gate as Hannah's figure receded, and only when she had completely vanished from sight did his composure finally break. He let out a long, ragged breath and looked up at the sky, his eyes filled with unwilling defeat.
A single tear slid down his cheek.
A fierce wind blew as a dark mass of clouds rolled in, pressing down on the horizon.
Before long, the sky had turned completely dark. A low rumble of thunder sounded, heralding an imminent downpour.
Lionel remained standing there until the first drops of rain began to fall. Only then did he reluctantly walk through the rain toward his car.

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