Aurelina couldn't sleep that night.
She stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, her heart pounding louder than the silence around her. Something had changed. She didn't know what, or maybe she did — she just couldn't bring herself to believe it yet.
There was something in the way Mr. Rey looked at her earlier.
Something that felt… familiar.
Not just emotionally, but in a way that stirred the corners of her memory — like she had seen those eyes in an old photo… or maybe in a mirror.
She turned to her nightstand and pulled out the small box she had kept hidden for years — the one with a necklace, two faded photos, and a letter from her mother that she had never dared to read until now.
Her hands trembled as she unfolded it.
---
"My dearest Aurelina,
If you ever find this letter, it means you're ready to know the truth.
You were born from love — a deep, honest love. But that love wasn't allowed to stay."
"Your father… wasn't a bad man. He left to become someone.
He promised me he would come back.
But he never knew you existed."
"I didn't tell him.
I was scared.
Scared that the world would take him away again if I let him know."
---
Aurelina stopped reading. Her eyes filled with tears.
She didn't need the rest of the letter.
She understood now.
She understood everything.
---
The next day, she walked to class early.
Too early.
The classroom was still dark, the chairs still stacked. But she needed to be there — to feel the space where her questions had begun, and maybe where they could end.
Rey entered ten minutes before class. He stopped when he saw her sitting alone by the window.
"Morning," he said softly.
"Hi," she replied, not looking at him.
There was silence.
The kind of silence that holds more weight than words.
Then, Aurelina pulled out an envelope and placed it gently on the desk.
"I read it," she said.
Rey froze. "Read… what?"
"My mother's letter." Her voice trembled. "I know."
The world stopped. At least for him.
"I don't need you to say anything," Aurelina continued. "I don't need an explanation. But I need to ask you something."
Rey looked up, slowly.
Her eyes — Aurel's eyes — stared straight into his soul.
> "Do you regret leaving?"
He wanted to say no.
He wanted to say he had no choice.
He wanted to explain how hard he had fought, how many nights he cried, how many times he wrote Aurel's name in notebooks no one ever read.
But all he said was,
"…Every single day."
---
There were no tears. Not yet.
Only a quiet nod from Aurelina.
As if something heavy had finally been placed down between them — not to be thrown away, but to be carried together.
---
Later that day, Rey walked alone through the park near the school. He sat on a bench and watched the leaves fall like time itself — slow, quiet, irreversible.
In his hand was a photo.
Aurel, young and laughing.
Him beside her, still wearing the same watch.
And a tiny scribble on the back that read:
> "Promise me you'll come back. No matter what."
Rey smiled.
And for the first time in years… it wasn't bitter.
---
> "Sometimes, the truth comes back to you — not to punish you, but to remind you that even broken things can still be held with love."