The Lake, the Dog, and the Summer That Stayed

A quiet reflection from Woven by Love

That summer, she pretended to drown.

Not to scare anyone — just a child’s game,

arms outstretched, floating still in the lake.

But Mila didn’t know it was pretend.

He leapt in without hesitation,

his small body splashing across the water,

determined to reach her.

Everyone laughed afterward.

Even Tien, once she caught her breath.

But something stayed with her —

the image of him swimming,

the loyalty in his eyes,

the way love sometimes moves before it thinks.

The Quiet Lake With Autumn Tree

I took this photo near a lake that reminded me of that moment —

the warm air, the stillness, the kind of sky that holds secrets.

And I remembered Mila.

The dog who walked beside her like a shadow.

The one who didn’t wait to be called.

The one who stayed — until one day, he didn’t.

From the Quiet Corner:

Some memories return not as stories,

but as scents in the air,

as colour in the leaves,

as ripples across a quiet lake.

And when they do, they remind us —

we were once loved,

deeply and simply,

by something that never asked us to be more than we were.

Have you ever been saved by someone who didn’t speak your language,

but knew your heart?

Mila’s story lives quietly inside Woven by Love,

and maybe, in you too.

📖 Read more from the book [here].