"Shhh, babe, it's me." Sofia's eyes went wide, wider than they already were, her mouth still sealed shut under his hand.
"Mm-umm," she tried, muffled, useless.

"What are you saying, babe? I can't understand you."the figure sounded genuinely confused, as if the hand still clamped over her mouth wasn't the obvious problem.

"Ummm--She shook her head hard, glaring.

"Huh?"

Sofia squeezed her eyes shut in pure frustration and, without any further warning, kicked him squarely in the knee.
The figure yelped and rolled off her entirely, landing on the floor beside the bed with a groan. "Ouch--why would you kick me, Sofi?"

"Krish. What are you even doing here?" Sofia sat up, voice sharp with disbelief, though something underneath it was already cracking with relief.

"I came to see you." He was still clutching his knee like it had been mortally wounded. "But seriously, did you actually kick me? That hurt."

"You idiot, you had your hand over my mouth. I was trying to say something and you just kept sitting there confused instead of letting go, so yes, I kicked you."

"Oh." He considered this for a second, entirely unbothered by the logic of it. "Okay, well--help me up, I can't get up on my own." He held out a hand, whining exactly like a child who'd scraped his knee on the playground. ''I just came to see you after 5 years, and you welcome me with a kick woww.'' He put his hand on his heart dramatically.

"You're such a drama queen." Sofia rolled her eyes but reached down and took his hand anyway, moving to pull him up.
Except Krish had other plans. The second her hand closed around his, he pulled instead of pushed, and Sofia toppled forward, landing squarely on top of him, both of them collapsing back onto the floor in a heap. He grinned up at her, entirely pleased with himself.

"Hey," he murmured. "How are you, baby?"

Sofia stared down at him for half a second, exasperation melting instantly into something much softer, and she dropped her head against his chest, wrapping both arms around him tightly.
"Now that I'm actually in your arms," she muttered into his shirt, "I'm finally okay."

Neither of them moved for a long while after that, tangled together on the floor of her bedroom in the dark, the silence between them saying more than either of them had managed all week over the phone.

Five years had put them both through more than either wanted to think about right now--the years apart, the fights, the months of silence, the slow, careful rebuilding that had brought them back here, to this exact moment, on the floor, holding on like they still weren't entirely convinced it was real.

For now, neither of them needed to say anything else. This -- just this, breathing against each other in the quiet--was enough.

Eventually Krish shifted, easing them both up off the floor and back onto the bed properly, pulling Sofia down beside him so they were facing each other in the dark, his hand finding hers without either of them really deciding to reach for the other.

"You could've just texted," she said quietly, though there was no real complaint in it. "Instead of climbing through my window like a criminal."

"Would you have believed me if I texted?" He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his voice low. "Knowing you, you'd have thought it was a joke. Or that I chickened out again."

"You did chicken out. For five years."

"I know." His thumb traced slow circles against the back of her hand. "I'm done doing that."

She was quiet for a moment, studying his face in the dim light coming through the curtains, still barely believing he was actually here, in India, in her room, after years of nothing but monthly phone calls and careful distance.

"Why now?" she asked softly. "What changed?"

"You know what changed." His voice softened further. "Kiara's back. My sister's back. I spent five years hating a version of events I never even let myself question properly, and the second the truth came out-- He shook his head. "I couldn't keep punishing you for something that was never really about you.

It never should have been." And besides i already started talking with you on your birthday because I realised. What happned year ago happned. I can't punish you for that It's not your fault.

"I still feel guilty," she admitted. "For what happened to your sister. Even if it wasn't my fault directly."

"I know." He pressed a slow kiss to her forehead, the same tenderness Donato had shown Kiara earlier that evening, just softer, quieter, worn in by years of restraint finally letting go. "But guilt isn't supposed to keep us apart forever. We already lost five years to it. I don't want to lose any more."

Sofia's eyes went glassy, and she pressed closer, tucking herself against his chest again, listening to his heartbeat instead of trying to find words for what she was feeling.

"So what now?" she whispered eventually.

"Now," Krish murmured against her hair, "we stop wasting time."
She smiled into the dark, and for the first time in five years, the quiet between them felt like peace instead of distance.

A knock rattled the door before either of them could say anything else. "Sofia?" Elana's voice, muffled through the wood. "I heard something fall, are you okay?"

Sofia and Krish both went rigid at the same instant, staring at each other in wide-eyed panic. "You have to hide," Sofia hissed, already shoving him toward the closet.

"Hide? Sofi, I'm twenty-two, not sixteen--

'' My sister is standing in the door right now, and if she finds krish rajput climbing out of my window at midnight, I am telling her it was your idea."

"It genuinely was my idea-

"Get in the closet, Krish."

Another knock, more insistent this time. "Sofia, I'm coming in."

Krish, thoroughly unconvinced but out of options, backed hastily into the closet, catching his elbow painfully on the door frame on the way in and biting down a curse. Sofia yanked her robe on over her nightclothes, smoothed her hair with one quick, useless swipe of her hand, and threw open the door just as Elana was reaching for the handle herself.

"Hi. Hey. I'm fine." Sofia's voice came out slightly too bright, slightly too fast. "Just--dropped something. My hairdryer. It fell. Loudly."

Elana raised an eyebrow, glancing past her into the room, which was, admittedly, in a state of mild disarray-- a chair knocked askew, the bedsheets rumpled far more than a dropped hairdryer would account for.

"Your hairdryer," Elana repeated slowly.

"Yes."

"Sofia."

"It's a very heavy hairdryer."

From inside the closet came a muffled thud, followed immediately by an equally muffled, "Ow."

Elana's eyes narrowed. Sofia laughed, loud and entirely unconvincing, physically stepping sideways to block more of the room from view. "That was--the pipes. Old house. Very old pipes." She was talking faster now, visibly panicking. "You know how mansions are, everything creaks, it's very atmospheric, honestly--

"Sofi." Elana crossed her arms, fighting a smile now, clearly having put it together several sentences ago. "Is Krish in your closet?"

Dead silence. "...No," Sofia said, entirely unconvincingly.

"Hi, Elana dii" Krish's voice offered helpfully from inside the closet.

Sofia dropped her face into both hands. "Oh my god."

Elana burst out laughing, unable to hold it together any longer, one hand pressed to her mouth. "You two are actually unbelievable. Get out of the closet, Krish, before you break something in there and the whole family comes here.''

The closet door creaked open, and Krish emerged looking thoroughly sheepish, rubbing his elbow, offering Elana an awkward little wave. "Hey. Good to see you. Nice house."

"You climbed through a window," Elana said, deadpan.

"I did, yeah."

"At midnight."

" I know Its inapropriate but yeah''

Elana shook her head, still laughing, and finally waved a hand in surrender. "You know what--I don't want to know the details. I'm just glad you two finally sorted yourselves out. Took long enough." She started backing out of the doorway. "Just--please use the door next time, Krish, we do have a working front gate."

"Noted," he said.

"And Sofia-- hairdryer, really?"

"It was the best I could come up with under pressure."

Elana laughed again, shaking her head as she pulled the door shut behind her, leaving the two of them alone once again Sofia still mortified, Krish still rubbing his sore elbow, both of them dissolving into helpless laughter the second the door clicked shut.
_______

Elana walked into the living room and found her parents seated together on the sofa, both of them wearing the same tight, worried expression.

"Mom. Dad." She slowed, immediately picking up on the mood. "What happened? Why do you both look so worried?"

"It's nothing, Eli. It's just--Aravi glanced at the clock on the wall. "Donato and Kiara still aren't back. It's past eight. Aria's been busy playing all evening so she hadn't really noticed yet, so I didn't think much of it at first--I assumed the two of them would be back by now.

But she's started asking, over and over, where her mama and daddy are. I told her they'd be home any minute. Now I'm getting worried myself. Neither of their phones is even reaching."

Elana pulled out her own phone and tried both numbers herself, but both went straight to the same flat, automated message out of network range.

"Eli, where's Enzo?" Mr romano asked. "Ask him if he knows where they went. Maybe Donato told him something."

Elana was already reaching for her phone to call him when Enzo walked in, having caught the tail end of the conversation on his way through. "No, Dad. I don't know where they went either." He crossed the room and slid an arm around Elana's shoulders. "Donato didn't tell me anything about this. I've been trying his number too, same thing--out of network."

A moment later, Albert and Kavya came in as well, drawn by the shift in the mood of the house.

"Where are the kids?" Aravi asked, glancing past them toward the hallway.

"They're still playing, Mom." Kavya's voice had its own thread of worry running through it. "Aria kept asking about Kiara earlier, so I got the three of them wrapped up in a game to distract her.
She's occupied for now, but she's going to start getting upset soon--this is the longest she's been away from Kiara.I tried calling Kiara myself too. Nothing. Her phone's not connecting at all."

The room settled into a heavier kind of quiet after that, everyone exchanging glances, the same unspoken worry passing silently between them -- two phones, both unreachable, hours past when they should have returned, and no one in the house with the first idea of where either of them actually was.

Enzo's phone rang suddenly, cutting through the tense quiet of the room. He glanced at the screen--an unknown number and looked up at the rest of the family before answering.
"Hello," he said, cautious.

"Enzo." The voice on the other end was clipped, hurried.

"Donato," said, "Where are you two?" Enzo's voice came out fast, sharp with worry. "Why haven't your phones been reaching?"

"Relax, enzo." Donato's voice sounded tired but steady. "I'm at the hospital. That's why--there's some network issue in this area, I'm calling you off the hospital landline."

"Hospital?" Enzo's grip tightened on the phone, and the whole room went instantly still around him, everyone catching the word. "Why? What happened? Is Kiara okay?"

"Relax, nothing happened to us, we're both fine." Donato's tone gentled slightly, trying to head off the panic before it spread further. "I'll explain everything once we're back. I'm calling now just to ask--please take care of Aria for me. We're going to be a little lait getting home."

"Why? What actually happened? Where are you right now?"

"I was in the my penthouse." Donato exhaled. "Kiara wasn't feeling well, so I brought her to a hospital nearby. It's going to take us a bit longer to get back, so I need you all to keep Aria occupied until then. I know she's probably already been asking."

"Don't worry about her, we've got it handled." Enzo's voice softened, though the concern hadn't fully left it. "Just--get back safe. Both of you."

"Yeah." A pause, something heavier sitting under the word. "I will."

The line went dead. Enzo lowered the phone slowly, and the whole room turned toward him at once, waiting.

"What happened?" Aravi asked the moment the call ended, already halfway out of her seat.

"Don't worry, Mom, they're safe." Enzo set the phone down, choosing his words carefully. "They went to his penthouse. Kiara wasn't feeling well, so Donato took her to a hospital nearby. There's some network issue in that area, that's why we couldn't reach either of them. It's just going to take them a little extra time to get back."

"But Kiara was completely fine before they left." Elana frowned, worry creasing her forehead. "What could've happened so suddenly?"

"Wait--you said penthouse." Kavya's voice sharpened. "You mean Donato's penthouse. The one in the city?"

"Yeah." Enzo nodded.

Kavya's face went pale. "That's the same penthouse where Tara died. By Kiara's hand right?" The room went quiet.

Enzo nodded again, slower this time.

"Then why would Donato take her there?" Aravi's voice had gone tight with alarm. "That place could be dangerous for her, if it's true her memory is coming back in pieces--what if something in there triggered her badly?"

"That's exactly what I'm thinking too, Mom." Kavya's hands had curled tightly together in her lap. "He shouldn't have taken her there. Not without more caution."

Elana hesitated, glancing between them. "I think--I think it was actually Kiara who asked him to take her. Not the other way around."

"What do you mean, Eli?" Aravi turned toward her sharply.

"This morning, I overheard the two of them talking, just for a second. Kiara said something like--you promised me you'd take me there today. That's all I caught, I didn't think much of it at the time."

Kavya's expression shifted, something clicking into place. "That explains it. Kiara mentioned to me a few days ago that she'd been having nightmares-- a house, a struggle, someone screaming. I think that place has been surfacing in her dreams for a while now, pieces of what actually happened there.

She must have realized, somehow, that it connects to her missing memory. That's why she pushed him to take her--she wanted the place itself to bring it back. To force the rest of it to the surface."

The room fell silent again, everyone absorbing it, the earlier relief at hearing they were simply delayed now tangled up with a fresh, sharper worry-- not about where they were, but about what Kiara might have just walked straight into remembering.
_______

Back at the hospital, Donato sat beside Kiara's bed, unmoving, watching her still, unconscious face for any sign of change.
When she collapsed in the penthouse, panic had taken over almost instantly--he'd gotten her into the car and driven straight to the nearest hospital, terrified of what might be happening inside her, unwilling to waste even a minute figuring out anything else first.

The doctors had examined her quickly, based on her history that donato told them. They ran whatever tests they could on short notice, and came back with an explanation that only deepened his fear rather than easing it.

Her mind, they said, had essentially shut itself down under the strain-- too much surfacing too fast, an overload her brain hadn't been able to process in real time, and rather than let that pressure keep building, it had simply forced her into unconsciousness as a kind of protective shutdown.

They'd warned him, carefully, that there was no way to predict what she'd wake up with. She might come back with everything, whole and intact, the fragmented pieces finally locking into place. Or she might come back with nothing at all--the pressure on her frontal lobe unpredictable enough that either outcome, or something in between, was equally possible.

They'd hooked her up to a glucose drip, told him the rest was the only real treatment available now, and left the rest to time.
That had been two hours ago. Donato hadn't moved from the chair beside her bed since.

He sat with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped tightly together, watching the slow rise and fall of her chest, replaying the decision over and over in his head. He should have refused her outright to come that penthouse. Should have held firm the way he'd tried to at first.

instead of giving in the second she'd looked at him with that mix of desperation and stubbornness he hadn't been able to say no to. He'd known, some part of him had known, that pushing her mind that hard, that fast, carried real risk--and he'd taken her there anyway.

What if she loses everything she's gained back so far, he thought, dread twisting tighter in his chest with every passing minute. What if this sets her back further than where she even started.

And then a thought arrived that turned his blood cold entirely.
Wha-what if this time, she forgets Aria too. The thought alone made his stomach drop, and he had to physically shake his head to push it away, forcing himself to breathe, to think straight.

No. No, stay positive, Donato. She's going to get everything back. All of it. This isn't the end of anything.

He reached out and gently took her hand where it lay still on the blanket, holding it carefully, like his grip alone might somehow anchor her back to herself.

"Come back to me," he murmured, low enough that only the quiet hum of the machines beside her bed could hear it. "Come back to all of us. Please, Kiara."
_______

Half an hour later, her eyes fluttered open slowly, and for a moment she simply lay there, blinking up at the unfamiliar ceiling, disoriented by the sterile white light and the faint beeping somewhere beside her.

Donato was on his feet instantly, leaning over her, his whole body coiled tight with hope and dread in equal measure.
"Kiara." He said her name carefully, watching her face for any sign of recognition. "Kiara, can you hear me?"

She turned her head slowly toward him, and for a long, agonizing second, her expression stayed blank, her eyes moving over his face like she was trying to place him from scratch. Donato's stomach dropped straight through the floor.

"Who--she started, and his heart stopped completely before she'd even finished the word.

"Who," he repeated, voice cracking, already bracing himself for the worst, already hearing in his head the sound of everything they'd rebuilt these past weeks collapsing all over again. "Kiara, it's me. It's Donato. Please--

She just looked at him, quiet, and something in her expression shifted--not confusion this time, but amusement, faint and tired, tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Relax," she said, her voice hoarse but steady. "I remember everything, Donato."

He stared at her, uncomprehending for a second, the words not quite landing. "What?"

"I remember." She let out a slow, shaky breath, and her eyes filled instantly, tears sliding sideways down into the pillow. "All of it. Everything. Our wedding. Our first year. Rose. The library. The hospital. Tara. The gun. I remember driving through that forest, half-conscious, not even knowing I was pregnant yet." Her voice caught. "I remember loving you before any of that happened. I remember it all, donato.''

The way she said his name its landed somewhere deep in his chest, and Donato felt his own composure crack entirely.
"You-- His voice broke apart. "You just said-

"I said who," she said softly, a small, watery laugh escaping her despite everything. "Because for one second, waking up, I genuinely didn't know. And then it all just--came back. All at once. Like a wall breaking." She reached for his hand, weak but deliberate. "I was testing you. I'm sorry. That was cruel of me, given everything you were probably thinking."

"Kiara." He dropped back into the chair beside her bed, gripping her hand with both of his now, his whole body shaking with relief he hadn't let himself feel until this exact second. "Don't ever-- don't you ever do that to me again. I thought--He couldn't even finish the sentence, pressing his forehead to the back of her hand instead, his shoulders trembling.

"I know." She reached her other hand up, weakly, and rested it against the top of his head, fingers threading gently into his hair the way she used to, years ago, in a life she could finally, fully remember living. "I know, I'm sorry. I just needed one second to see your face like this before I told you. To see what five years actually did to you."

He lifted his head, eyes red, and looked at her properly-- really looked, the way he hadn't been able to since finding her in Scanno, because until this moment some part of her had still been a stranger wearing his wife's face. Now, finally, she was looking back at him the same way.

"You remember Aria our doughter?," he said, half question, half desperate confirmation.

"I remember everything," she said again, softer this time, her thumb brushing gently along his jaw. "I remember our daughter. I remember loving you before I even knew what marriage would mean. I remember every single thing I lost, and I remember exactly why I fought so hard to get back here." But. A tear slipped down, and she let it fall without wiping it away.

"But what kiara ?" Donato asked, watching her face carefully.

"But." She took a slow breath, steadying herself. "With all the good things I-I remember the bad things too. What you did. What Rose did. What your family did."

Donato's smile fell instantly. He swallowed hard, some part of him having known this moment was coming the second she said I remember everything. Up until now, everything she knew had come secondhand, filtered through Kavya's careful retelling, through his own confession on that bench in Scanno.

But this was different. This was her own memory now, lived and felt, not a story handed to her by someone else. And this Kiara the one lying in this hospital bed, whole again--wasn't the same woman who'd once loved him blindly enough to forgive anything.

This was a woman who'd spent five years learning to protect herself, to value herself, to never again let anyone treat her the way she'd been treated. She couldn't simply absorb what had been done to her and decided it didn't matter anymore.

"It hurts, Donato." Her voice wavered, but she kept going, needing to say it. "It hurts so badly, remembering that my own husband didn't listen to me. If- if you'd just listened, if you'd stayed beside me that day instead of turning away--I wouldn't have ended up in that mental hospital.

I wouldn't have run. I wouldn't have gotten into that accident. My life, my daughter's life--we wouldn't have been in danger at all." Tears slipped freely down her face now. "Five years, Donato. Five years I lost because of it."

"I know, sweetheart." His voice cracked entirely on the endearment, and he sat there holding her hand, his own shoulders shaking now as the weight of it finally caught up to him too. "I know I was wrong. I should have listened to you. I should have trusted you.

I should never have let them take you to that hospital. I know what I did was unforgivable, but--please. Please forgive me. Just give me one chance." His words came out broken, stumbling over each other.

It hurt Kiara too, watching him break down like this in front of her, the man she still loved despite everything, still deeply undeniably. But love didn't erase what had happened to her. It didn't erase five years lost, a childhood her daughter had spent without a father.

The terror of waking up in a hospital with no memory and no one coming to find her. What had been done to her was cruel, and cruelty like that didn't simply dissolve because the person responsible was crying in front of her now.

She reached out and took his hand anyway, and he looked up at her, something desperate and hopeful in his red-rimmed eyes.
"I don't know what the future holds for us, Donato," she said quietly. "But I can't just forget everything this fast. I can't forgive you that easily either."

Something in him broke completely at that. His Kiara was back-- whole, remembering, present in a way she hadn't been in weeks. But not fully back to him. She hadn't called him Ro. She was using his name, formal, careful, the same distance she'd kept since Scanno, except now it carried the full weight of memory behind it instead of the blankness of forgetting.

"I want to go to my daughter," Kiara said, her voice steadier now, some resolve settling back into her.

Donato nodded, wiping quickly at his own face before it could fall apart any further. "Yeah. Let's go." He helped her sit up slowly, careful with her, and together, quietly, they began the process of leaving-- her memory whole again, but the distance between them still very much intact.

The nurse came in to remove the IV and go over a short list of things to watch for, and Donato listened to every word with more attention than he'd given anything all week, nodding, repeating instructions back like he was afraid of missing something that might matter later.

Kiara sat quietly on the edge of the bed through most of it, still a little unsteady, one hand pressed lightly against her temple where the ache from earlier hadn't fully let go.

Once the paperwork was done, Donato helped her out to the car, his hand hovering near her elbow the whole way without quite touching her, uncertain now of how much closeness she'd allow. She didn't pull away when he opened the door for her, didn't say anything either, just settled into the passenger seat and let her head rest back against it, eyes closing for a moment as the city lights slid past outside.

The drive back was quiet, though it felt different from the silence on the way there. That silence had been full of things she hadn't known yet. This one was full of things she now knew completely, sitting heavy between them, impossible to talk around.

Somewhere near the halfway point, Donato's phone rang, and he answered it on speaker without thinking, still focused on the road.

"Donato." Enzo's voice came through immediately, tight with worry. "Are you two okay? It's been hours-

"We're fine," Donato said quickly. "We're on our way back now. Kiara's okay. I'll explain everything once we're there."

There was a pause, and then, quieter, Enzo asked, "Is she-

"She remembers everything," Donato said, glancing sideways at Kiara, who kept her eyes on the window, giving no indication she was even listening. "All of it."

Another pause, longer this time, and Donato could hear the shift in the background--someone else picking up on the news, a murmur of voices.

"That's-that's good, right?" Enzo asked carefully, clearly reading something in Donato's tone that told him it wasn't quite that simple.

"Yeah its good," Donato said. "We'll talk when we're back. Is Aria okay?"

"She's fine, she fell asleep about twenty minutes ago, actually Sofia wore her out completely with some elaborate game involving all three kids and half the living room furniture. She was asking about you both all evening, but she's out cold now."

Something in Kiara's posture shifted slightly at that, the first real reaction she'd given since getting in the car. "Tell him I want to tell sofi to change her dress. she said, just loud enough for the phone to pick up. "Even if she's asleep."

"You heard her," Donato said.

"Loud and clear," Enzo said, something gentler in his voice now. "Drive safe. We'll see you soon."

The call ended, and the quiet settled back over the car, though it felt slightly less unbearable now, something in Kiara's request for Aria loosening the tension in Donato's chest just a fraction.

Whatever else stood unresolved between them, that much hadn't changed--she still wanted to get back to their home as fast as possible, and for now, that was something steady to hold onto.

They pulled through the mansion gates a while later, and before the car had even fully stopped, Kiara had her seatbelt off, already reaching for the door.

The moment the car stopped, Kiara was out and moving toward the house, faster than her still-shaky legs probably should have carried her. Donato hurried after her, catching up just as she reached the front door, which swung open before either of them could touch it--Aravi had clearly been watching for headlights.

"Kiara." Aravi's hands came up immediately, checking her over on instinct, the way a mother checks a child even when the child is grown. "Are you alright? Did yo-

"I'm fine, Mom." Kiara caught both her hands gently, stilling them, offering a tired but genuine smile. "I promise. I just--I need to see Aria first. Please."

Aravi studied her face for a second, something passing between them, and then she nodded and stepped back to let her through.
The living room came into view a moment later, and Kiara's chest tightened at the sight of it--the whole family gathered there despite the late hour, nobody having gone to bed with the two of them still unaccounted for.

Elana and Kavya rose at once. Elora in kavya arm sleeping. Sofia was curled at one end of the sofa with Elian asleep against her shoulder.

And there, stretched across the far end of the sofa under a light blanket someone had draped over her, was Aria--fast asleep, one arm flung over her face, completely unbothered by the tension that had gripped the entire house for the last several hours.

Kiara crossed the room without a word and sank down onto the edge of the sofa beside her, brushing the hair back from Aria's forehead with a hand that wasn't quite steady. "My baby," she whispered, more to herself than to her sleeping daughter.

Aria stirred slightly at the touch, eyes fluttering half open, disoriented. "Mama?" Her voice came out thick with sleep.
"I'm here." Kiara leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I'm here, baby, go back to sleep."

Aria blinked up at her for a moment longer, clearly fighting to stay awake, one small hand reaching up to grip a fistful of Kiara's sleeve like she needed to confirm this was real before she let herself drift off again. "You came back," she mumbled.

"I always come back." Kiara's voice cracked slightly on it, and she pressed another kiss to the top of her head. "Always." Aria's grip loosened as sleep pulled her back under, her breathing evening out again within seconds, and Kiara stayed exactly where she was, not moving, just watching her daughter breathe, letting the quiet weight of the room settle around her..

The family who'd stayed up worrying, the husband standing a few feet back giving her space, the whole complicated, unresolved shape of her life sitting there in the dim lamplight.She didn't look back at Donato. But she didn't ask him to leave either, and for tonight, that was as much as either of them was going to get.

the update is getting late I know. but honestly even if I want to update sooner I just don't get enough time. 😭 anyway there are only 2 or 3 chapters left and after that this story will finally be complete.

Enjoy the chapter and as always tell me what you think. I'd love to hear your thoughts bye byeee take care.🫶✨