The Five Years He Missed Chapter 19

The Five Years He Missed Chapter 19

## Elena’s POV

I drew a deep breath and forced down the impulse to flip this cramped little room upside down. I set my face coldly and looked at him.

“Dominic, have you truly forgotten everything you’ve done to me? Let Brianna carve this scar onto my face. Throw me out the door into a blizzard…”

“All of that—I could try to forget. But Luca?!” As I spoke, I stormed into the bedroom in two strides, dug out that little iron box covered in dust from the corner, and hurled it viciously down before him.

Dominic stood frozen on the spot. His slender fingers trembling slightly, he opened the box. Inside were several children’s crayon drawings—colors so vivid they stung the eyes, a drawing style so childlike it shattered the heart. In the picture, a man and a woman held hands with a little boy in the middle. All three were laughing radiantly. The man even wore a birthday crown on his head—funny and adorable. At the very edge, written crookedly in colored marker, were the words: Happy Birthday, Daddy.

“Th-this is…” Dominic’s voice had gone hoarse. I looked at his stunned, paralyzed expression and pulled a wan smile across my lips. “Luca drew it for you. He said he wanted to prepare next year’s birthday gift for you. I know—he was afraid he wouldn’t make it through that winter.” My voice was shaking, but the tears could no longer fall. “The truth is, children understand everything. The one thing he never expected—was that his own father would give up on saving him!”

Dominic had gone utterly, completely rigid, as if every bone in his body had been extracted. He stared blankly at those drawings, even his breathing having ground to a halt.

I looked at him, and with each deliberate word, I drove in the final knife. “Between us stands Luca’s life. We can never, ever go back.”

Dominic’s lips quivered several times, but in the end, not a single word came out. What fell first was a great, heavy teardrop. One drop. Then another. They splashed heavily onto the paper that read Happy Birthday, Daddy, blurring that innocent scribble of red.

This was the first time I had ever seen him cry. That Dominic who could overturn seas and summon storms in the underworld—whose heart was harder than iron—now stood before me, utterly shattered and undone.

“I’m sorry…” He mumbled, his voice so broken it was barely audible. “I won’t come bother you anymore.”

With those words, he practically fled, not even daring to take the iron box with him.

…

After that, I was finally left in peace for a few days. Dominic seemed to have truly given up on trying to drag me back to that cage.

Only—money still appeared in my account at regular intervals. And when I visited Luca’s grave, I would find it piled with snacks and cakes—all the things Luca had loved when he was alive.

Life seemed to settle into a certain morbid calm.

Half a month later, I was sweeping the shop floor when the glass door was pushed open.

“Welcome—Aidan?”

I looked at the person walking in with surprise. Winter was almost over, the weather warming. Aidan was dressed in just a simple sweater and jacket. Yet even these ordinary clothes draped on him exuded an air of refined elegance, and even the somewhat dim interior of the shop seemed to brighten a few shades with his arrival.

He gave a faint “Mm,” casually running his fingers through the flower petals beside him with an elegant gesture. “I was passing by. Thought I’d come see you.”

I hurried to offer him a seat and poured him a cup of hot tea. Aidan took a sip, his gaze not resting on me but drifting away as he asked casually, “He’s been clinging to you all this time. Do you need my help?”

I didn’t react for a moment. “Who?”

Aidan’s gaze shifted toward the outside of the shop. Between those fine brows, a distinct displeasure finally surfaced, and his voice cooled several degrees. “Dominic.” He paused, his tone certain. “He’s been following you. At least half a month now.”