Once My Only, Now Just a Memory Chapter 22

Once My Only, Now Just a Memory Chapter 22

Another winter arrived, covering the city in a fresh layer of white.

“Flora,” my coworker caffed out from the window.

“Dr. Ellery is here to pick you up again.”

I grabbed my bag.

“Stop teasing me.”

I had been working at Ellery Holdings for a year now, and I had excelled in my position.

Once I returned to the work I loved, I realized that my intelligence and drive had never truly left me.

Soren had also put me in touch with the best reconstructive surgeons in the country.

After several treatments, the scars on my face had faded significantly.

My wolf was still gone.

But I had learned to accept my life as it was.

As I walked out of the building, quiet snowflakes began to fall.

Soren was leaning against his car, waiting for me.

“Soren,” I said, walking up to him.

“I told you that you didn’t have to pick me up today.”

“There is something I must tell you,” he said, his expression serious.

“Cillian passed away.”

My footsteps halted.

After a long silence, I asked, “Was it from the wound last year?”

“Partially.”

“The silver and wolfsbane did permanent damage to his body.”

Soren opened the car door for me.

“And his heart never fully recovered.”

I didn’t say anything.

“He left the majority of his personal fortune to you.”

Wrenford Holdings has been placed under a professional management team and a family trust.”

The ride was quiet.

Cillian.

That name had defined my youth.

I had loved him completely.

And I had hated him just as deeply.

Now, there was nothing left but a quiet stillness.

Soren didn’t press me for conversation.

He drove me to Westbridge Memorial Cemetery.

It was Lumi’s birthday.

I had brought a cake.

I knelt by her headstone, talking to her about my life for a long time.

Soren stood behind me, holding the umbrella to keep the snow off my shoulders.

I didn’t know that many years ago, before I ever knew his name, he had already known mine.

It had happened at an airport.

Soren had suffered a sudden heart condition and collapsed near a terminal corner.

A young girl wearing a bright red sweater had rushed to his side, finding his medication in his pocket and saving his life.

“You scared me,” she had said, letting out a breath.

Then, she had scolded him gently. “Next time, keep your medication somewhere easy to reach.”

Soren had asked, “What is your name?”

The girl had stood up with a bright smile.

“Why? Do you want to repay me?”

“There is no need. If we are meant to meet again, we will.”

They had met again at an Ellery family banquet.

I had been wearing a red gown.

I had no scars on my face back then, and my eyes were filled with light.

Soren had stood at the edge of the crowd, watching me, preparing to approach.

But his brother had stopped him.

“Don’t bother. She is Cillian Wrenford’s Mate.”

So he had stepped back.

Years later, he had found me for the third time.

I had been lying unconscious on a cold street.

I was so thin I was barely recognizable, my face covered in blood and scars, the light in my eyes completely

gone.

But he had recognized me instantly.

He had paid my medical bills.

He had found me a therapist.

He had quietly convinced the bakery owner to hire me.

But he had never told me any of it.

He was also the one who had tracked down the doctor who forged the bloodline assay.

The doctor’s sudden attack of conscience had not been a coincidence. Soren had used his own methods to force the truth out of him, ensuring Cillian would face his own sins.

He had thought of taking revenge on my behalf.

But he had stopped himself.

Because it was my life, and he wanted me to decide how to close that chapter.

The snow fell softly against the umbrella.

I finally finished speaking to my daughter and stood up.

“Soren.”

“I am here,” he replied.

I looked up into his calm, steady eyes.

“You like me.”

“Don’t you?”

The always composed Dr.Ellery froze.

A dark blush quickly spread to his ears.

I let out a soft, genuine laugh.

It was the first time in years I had felt so light.

I reached out and took his hand, just like the girl I used to be, ready to face whatever lay ahead.

“Let us try, Soren.”