Aurel had never thought this day would come.
She stood by the window of her quiet house, watching the wind play with the curtains. The afternoon sun filtered through, golden and gentle — but her chest felt anything but calm. Her hands clutched the frame tightly, her breathing uneven.
Aurelina had said it so simply the night before.
> "I met him. I know now. I just… wanted you to be the one to tell me."
And that was it.
No drama. No accusations. Just a quiet truth dropped like a stone into the middle of a still lake — creating ripples that couldn't be taken back.
Rey had returned.
Not as a ghost from her memory.
Not as the boy she once kissed beneath the rain.
But as a man who unknowingly left his whole heart behind… and returned to find it divided between a woman he once loved and a daughter who never knew his name.
She sat down slowly, her knees weak. Her eyes burned, but the tears refused to fall.
She had imagined this moment too many times.
In some versions, she'd scream.
In others, she'd cry in his arms.
But in all of them… she had been younger. Freer. Untouched by the years that had built walls around her heart.
---
Rey stood outside her door.
He hadn't knocked yet. His hand hovered above the wood, as if knocking would mean tearing open everything they had buried for over a decade.
He took a breath — shaky, unsure — and let his knuckles touch the surface, once. Then twice.
The sound echoed inside like a heartbeat.
---
Aurel opened the door slowly. Their eyes met.
For a long moment, neither of them moved. It wasn't awkward. It was heavier than that — as if the years they lost had taken shape and were standing between them, asking:
What now?
Aurel's voice was quiet, almost breaking.
> "You look… older."
Rey gave a faint smile. "I feel like I've aged a hundred years."
She didn't smile back. But she didn't close the door either.
> "Why now, Rey?"
His name in her mouth felt like a prayer she hadn't dared whisper in years.
He looked down. "I didn't know about her. If I had… I would've come back sooner."
Aurel stepped aside. A silent invitation.
He walked in, the house swallowing him in memories. The same soft beige walls. The scent of lavender she used to wear. A photo of Aurelina at age five on the table — Rey stopped in front of it, breath caught.
> "She has your smile," he said softly.
Aurel didn't reply. She sat down, arms folded tightly.
> "You left me, Rey."
"I left… because I was nothing. I thought if I came back as someone, you'd still be waiting."
Aurel finally looked at him — really looked.
Not at the man he had become, but at the boy he used to be.
> "I did wait. For years. Until they married me off. I cried on my wedding night, Rey."
He closed his eyes.
> "I wrote you letters. Hundreds. But I had nowhere to send them. I didn't know where you went. You disappeared."
> "And when I came back," he said quietly, "you were already gone."
The words hung there. Raw. Final.
And for the first time in all those years, they didn't feel like enemies. Just two people holding pieces of the same broken past — too jagged to fit, but too precious to throw away.
---
There was silence.
But this time, it didn't hurt.
It held them.
---
> "What happens now?" Aurel whispered.
Rey looked up, and for the first time, there was no hope in his eyes — just clarity.
> "Now… I stay close. As long as you let me. For her. For us — in whatever form that means now."
Aurel said nothing. But she didn't tell him to leave.
That was enough.
For now.
---
> "When the past knocks on your door, it doesn't always ask to be let back in — sometimes, it just needs to be seen."
— Chapter 32