Chapter 10
297words
One lazy Sunday afternoon, we curled up on his leather sofa.
Golden light poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows, bathing us in its gentle warmth.
His fingers absently twisted a strand of my hair as he murmured, "Remember when we first met?"
I nestled deeper against his chest, smiling at the memory.
"How could I forget? That riverbank in Cloud Hamlet."
My parents' murder was still fresh then—an open wound. I'd been shipped off to that backwater village for "protection."
Grief consumed me. I'd spend hours by that river, staring at nothing, feeling everything.
Eric had just flown in from London to oversee some environmental initiative and had taken a spectacularly wrong turn on a country road.
"You were perched on that massive boulder," Eric said softly, "staring at the water like it held answers. So obviously heartbroken, but damn, you were fighting it."
His arms tightened around me. "I asked around about you afterward. Learned you were staying with old Mrs. Chen temporarily. Had no idea who you really were."
"Every time I went back to that village, I found myself looking for you. Never saw you again."
"Then I heard someone from the city had collected you. Never imagined that after all these years and all this chaos, you'd end up right here." He tapped my nose gently. "With me."
Funny how life plants these little seeds, these moments that seem insignificant until years later when they bloom into something beautiful.
I twisted in his arms to face him, pressing my palm against his cheek. "I'm just glad the universe got something right. That it's you."
The afternoon light painted everything gold, and for once, time seemed to slow down just for us.
