Prologue: The Past And The Future

Rain fell quietly against the glass walls of the restaurant. The kind of rain that blurred city lights into something softer yet lonely.

Clara sat alone at the table for two in a fancy restaurant, fingers wrapped around a cup of tea that had long gone cold. Across from her, an untouched plate waited beneath the dim golden candlelight.

8:47 PM.

Yet their anniversary dinner reservation was at sharp seven pm. It happened again and again. Until she was used to it.

Around her, there was a couples laughed softly over wine glasses and intertwined hands. Somewhere near the piano, a woman smiled as her husband brushed her hair away from her face.

Clara looked down before envy could fully settle in her chest. She had once imagined marriage differently. Not extravagant nor luxurious. Not passionate as fire. But, just warm.

Warm mornings. Shared groceries. Quiet kisses before work. Someone who looked at her like she mattered the most. Instead, she married Sebastian Vaughn. A man who was kind in the way strangers were kind. Polite, distant, and untouchable.

Her phone vibrated against the table. A message appread when she opened it, it was for Sebastian.

Basty 🩵

Documents are piling up here in the office. Don’t wait for me, go home.

No apology said. No “happy anniversary love.” Just silence dressed as courtesy. Clara stared at the screen for a long moment before locking it again. Her chest hurt in that familiar way, not sharp enough to cry over, but heavy enough to make breathing exhausting.

She never expected him to love her as she wanted to, but all that she ever wanted is to be seen. To be appreciated. She once remembered again their first anniversary. Sebastian gave her a pink tulips, but in fact her favorite flower is lilies.

The waiter approached carefully. “Would you still like to order, ma’am?” Elise forced a smile.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Just for one.”

The words tasted bitter. The waiter hesitated before nodding sympathetically and started listing down her order and left.

Outside, thunder rumbled faintly across the city. Clara turned toward the windows. And that was when she saw him. He's across the street. Standing infront of the closed flower shop.

But... he wasn’t alone. In his hands was a bouquet of pink tulips. And in front of him, was a woman. A woman with a long dark hair, and has her familiar smile that Clara had only seen once before.

And it was inside an old photograph hidden carefully in Sebastian's drawer. "My love, Alessia." That was written in the back of the picture.

For a brief moment, Sebastian looked alive. Not cold, not distant, and not exhausted. He was actually living his best moments. Like someone had returned a missing piece of him.

Clara felt something inside her crack quietly. Not loudly, not dramatically. But just enough to understand the truth she had spent years trying not to see.

She had never been the love story. Only the woman standing in the place where it should have been. And across the street, under the rain and pink tulips- the real story had finally come back.

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