Flashback Continues:

Maya's words echoed oddly inside the old walls that Sophia had carefully repaired. Regrets, it turned out, were simple to hold onto—especially once the most precious parts of life began slipping away.

“It may look as though she has everything with you now, Julian,” Maya started, her tone laced with warning, “but mark my words, regret will eventually arrive.

She is young and swept up in her feelings. In time, when clarity returns and she starts relying on reason instead of impulse, she will see what she is missing. And Julian, I hate to say it, but why would you want her to carry the troubles that shadow...