Mian POV
I woke before sunrise again.
Old habits were difficult to break.
For years, mornings had belonged to me alone. They were the only hours when the world was quiet enough that I didn't have to think about everyone else's expectations.
Today felt different.
As I walked downstairs, the smell of freshly brewed coffee greeted me.
Robert stood in the kitchen wearing an apron.
I stopped in the doorway.
"...Why are you wearing my apron?"
He looked down.
"Oh."
"It has tiny strawberries on it."
"It was the only one I found."
I couldn't help smiling.
"It suits you."
"I was hoping you'd say it looked intimidating."
"You look like a kindergarten teacher."
He placed a hand dramatically over his heart.
"That was unnecessarily cruel."
For a brief moment, we were children again.
Just teasing each other over nothing.
---
Robert POV
There it is.
That smile.
Small.
Natural.
Unplanned.
The one I'd been hoping to see.
Not because I wanted to erase her pain.
Because I wanted her to remember she was still capable of smiling through it.
People often assumed healing happened because someone arrived to save you.
They were wrong.
Healing began when someone reminded you that you weren't broken beyond repair.
---
Breakfast
Everyone gathered around the table.
Kael accepted a cup of coffee.
The Husband unfolded the morning newspaper.
Isle carried a basket of toast to the table.
Robert proudly announced,
"I made breakfast."
Everyone looked at the food.
Silence.
Kael poked the scrambled eggs with his fork.
"...Are they supposed to move?"
"They're fluffy."
"They're alive."
Even Mian laughed.
Robert sighed dramatically.
"I leave the country for twelve years and this is the welcome I get?"
The Husband chuckled.
"I think we'll order breakfast."
"Traitors."
The room filled with laughter.
For the first time in what felt like forever, laughter wasn't covering pain.
It existed beside it.
---
Isle POV
Watching Mian laugh no longer hurt.
It made me happy.
For months, I'd been trying to understand the woman she'd become.
Robert seemed to understand the girl she'd once been.
Both mattered.
As I cleared the dishes, Robert joined me in the kitchen.
"You've taken good care of her."
I looked up.
"I don't think I always have."
He shook his head.
"Nobody gets everything right."
His expression softened.
"But thank you for staying."
I blinked.
The gratitude in his voice was genuine.
Not possessive.
Not suspicious.
Just sincere.
---
Kael POV
Later that afternoon, Kael invited Robert for a walk through the garden.
"I have a question."
Robert smiled.
"I've noticed."
Kael folded his hands behind his back.
"Why didn't you come back sooner?"
The question lingered in the air.
Robert's smile faded.
"I tried."
Kael waited.
"My father accepted a job overseas."
"We moved."
"I wrote letters."
He looked toward the old oak tree.
"Dozens of them."
Kael frowned.
"She never mentioned them."
"Because she never received them."
Silence.
"I found out years later."
"My aunt admitted she'd thrown them away."
Kael stared at him.
"...Why?"
"She thought children should forget childish friendships."
Robert laughed bitterly.
"Apparently, she was very confident she'd made the right decision."
He lowered his gaze.
"She didn't realize she'd taken away the only friendship Mian had that wasn't built on fear."
---
Mian POV
I found an old wooden box while cleaning the attic.
Dust covered the lid.
Inside were ribbons, notebooks, and tiny keepsakes from years ago.
Near the bottom lay a faded envelope.
No stamp.
No address.
Only one word written across the front.
Mian.
My heartbeat quickened.
Inside was a letter.
Not from me.
From Robert.
The paper had yellowed with age.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
«"I don't know if this letter will ever reach you. I just wanted you to know that I haven't forgotten our promise to stay friends, no matter where life takes us..."»
I couldn't read any further.
My vision blurred.
Not because of tears alone.
Because all these years...
He had written.
He had remembered.
He had tried.
And I had believed...
He'd simply forgotten me.
---
The Husband POV
He found Mian sitting quietly in the attic.
The letter rested in her hands.
She looked up slowly.
"I was angry with him."
Her voice trembled.
"For so many years."
He sat beside her.
"I thought he left without saying goodbye."
She gave a sad smile.
"He never did."
The Husband looked at the faded paper.
"Sometimes life steals years from people."
Mian nodded.
"But it doesn't always steal the people."
---
Final Scene – Robert POV
That evening, I stood alone on the veranda.
The sunset painted the sky in shades of orange and violet.
Footsteps approached.
Mian stopped beside me.
Neither of us spoke for a long time.
Finally, she held out the old letter.
"I found it."
I looked at the familiar paper.
"You actually got one."
"Only one."
"I'm sorry."
She shook her head.
"No."
A small smile appeared.
"I'm done blaming people for things they didn't do."
The words settled quietly between us.
For the first time in twelve years...
The distance between us no longer felt measured in miles.
It felt measured in conversations we still had time to have.
As the evening breeze drifted through the garden, both of us looked toward the horizon.
Not at the years we had lost.
But at the years that still waited ahead.
End of Chapter 71