Chapter 4

The silence stretched between them, thick with unsaid words. Alexander took a step closer, his heart pounding. "Please, don’t shut me out. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I need to hear the truth. Every part of it." She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "The truth? The truth is that I spent years crafting dreams around you, only to wake up and find myself alone. I gave everything, Alexander. My youth, my heart, my dignity. And in the end, I was left with nothing but memories that haunted me." She turned toward the window, her fingers tracing the condensation forming on the glass. "I remember the first time I saw you. I was just a girl, too young to understand what love was, but old enough to feel its weight. I followed your every move, memorized the way you laughed, the way you spoke. You were the sun, and I was willing to burn just to be near you." Her voice trembled, but she continued. "I watched as you moved through life, so oblivious to me. And still, I waited. Every time you passed by, every moment we shared—though they were fleeting, they were everything to me. Even when I bore your child, I convinced myself that it was enough. That loving you, even from a distance, was enough." Tears welled in her eyes as she turned to face him. "But it wasn’t. And now, here you are, too late to change anything."