Tonight… the flashes from cameras and the stage lights sparkled like stars scattered across the sky.
The ballroom was filled with celebrities, actors, and journalists.
She wore a long silver evening gown that shimmered subtly, drawing every eye toward her.
Though her smile and steady gaze seemed confident, her heart raced with fear and anxiety.
Tonight could be the night she would win the biggest award of her life.
Yet she couldn't ignore the mistakes of the past still haunting her—
the wrong decisions, the failures in front of the public, all etched painfully into her memory.
"What should I do… do I really deserve this?" she thought to herself.
Three years ago, when I—Noona Pantawan—wrote a romantic novel to submit for a contest, I stayed up all night to make it perfect.
But back then… that woman, a private nurse from Sukhumvit, came between me and my ex-boyfriend, Em.
I was left heartbroken, and he coldly said:
> "Noona… let Yui receive this award instead. Here, take this."
He handed me an ATM card and signaled his assistant to escort me out of the event.
I asked, my voice trembling, "Why? This is my work. My name is announced—why let someone else take it?"
He replied coldly, "Look at you… dressed like an old woman. Yui is still beautiful, her skin so fair."
I walked out to sit at the bus stop, crying silently… the pain of that moment still fresh in my mind, as if it happened yesterday.
---
When her name was announced to go on stage,
the applause thundered around the room, and her heart pounded.
She stepped onto the stage slowly, hands trembling slightly, yet her eyes were determined.
"Tonight… I will accept myself fully, no matter the outcome," she whispered.
The microphone stood before her. She reached into her small clutch and pulled out a note she had written as a reminder:
> "Remember… hug yourself tightly. No matter how big your mistakes are, you deserve your own love."
All eyes were on her, but she took a deep breath and smiled—a smile not just for the audience, but for herself.
Applause echoed through the room,
and she felt warmth from both the people around her… and her own heart.
This was the first night the light of her heart began to shine.