CHAPTER 5 FINALLY MEETING

CHAPTER 5

FINALLY MEETING

The black Range Rover came to a stop in front of a stone-walled restaurant with small wooden windows glowing warmly from inside.

Located along a narrow village road in the old Yorkshire countryside, the place looked like something preserved from an eighteenth-century winter tale. The scent of wet wood and rain-soaked leaves filled the air, a quiet reminder of how far Catherine had wandered from the modern world she knew.

Under the wooden terrace roof, Catherine stood with her arms wrapped around herself.

Her blonde hair had been slightly disheveled by the wind, and the lower part of her cream coat was damp from the rain. Against the backdrop of the ancient countryside, she looked almost out of place.

Beautiful and elegant.

Yet cold and completely lost.

Aron stepped out of the car and walked toward her without hesitation.

He removed his leather jacket and placed it over her shoulders before she could protest.

"You'll freeze standing out here like this."

Catherine looked up in surprise.

"You came yourself?"

"Get in the car. The heater is on."

His voice remained calm, but the gesture carried a warmth she had never expected from him.

Catherine followed quietly.

During all the years she had worked for Aron Loghan, she had never once seen him show personal concern. There were no unnecessary smiles, no gentle words, no signs of emotional attachment.

Aron was always controlled.

Always distant.

Always unreachable.

But that evening, something inside that cold exterior had briefly shifted.

After Catherine entered the car, Aron returned to the restaurant.

He wanted to settle the payment Catherine had been unable to complete because of the confusion.

The small restaurant carried the warmth of the countryside.

Stone walls.

Wooden shelves filled with antique tea sets.

The comforting scent of freshly baked apple pie drifting from the kitchen.

Aron approached the counter.

A female server greeted him with the bill in her hand.

And suddenly, everything stopped.

She had long dark hair tied neatly behind her back.

Gray eyes.

Eyes that belonged to a memory he had spent years burying.

"This is your bill, sir," she said politely.

Aron froze.

Her voice.

Her expression.

Her eyes.

Everything felt painfully familiar.

Yet she looked at him like a stranger.

There was no recognition.

No fear.

No hesitation.

Only a waitress serving a customer she had never met.

Aron placed far more money on the counter than necessary.

"Keep the change."

The woman looked surprised.

"Thank you, sir. That's very generous."

For one final moment, Aron stared at her.

There was no hatred.

No affection.

Only emptiness.

The woman standing before him was the same person who had once destroyed his trust.

And yet she had no idea who he was.

Aron turned away and left.

The moment he returned to the car, Catherine looked at him.

"Are you alright?"

Aron started the engine.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

His eyes remained fixed on the road ahead.

But his expression had grown darker than the storm gathering above Yorkshire.

The Range Rover moved through the narrow countryside roads as the rain grew heavier.

Aron remained silent behind the wheel.

His eyes watched the road.

But his mind had already returned to the past.

That face.

Those gray eyes.

That dark hair.

A name he had tried to erase for more than twenty years suddenly returned like a wound reopening.

Eva.

The name struck his chest harder than the rain against the car roof.

Twenty-three years earlier

Yorkshire, England

At fifteen years old, Aron Loghan was already carrying the weight of his family name.

He had been raised with discipline, expectations, and the responsibility of becoming the next heir of the Loghan family.

But despite having everything, Aron wanted one thing he had never been allowed to have.

A normal life.

He begged his parents to attend a local school owned by the family foundation.

No luxury vehicles.

No bodyguards.

No special treatment.

He wanted to be just Aron.

Not the son of the Loghan family.

Not the future heir.

Just a boy among other students.

That was where he first saw Eva.

A girl with dark hair and unforgettable gray eyes.

She was beautiful, intelligent, and admired by everyone around her.

Aron watched her quietly from a distance.

Admired her quietly.

And for the first time in his life, Aron Loghan experienced something completely unfamiliar.

He fell in love.

But being different made him a target.

Other students saw him as arrogant and mysterious. They did not know the truth about his identity, but they sensed something about him that separated him from everyone else.

Among them was Jason, the leader of a group of popular students who had always considered himself close to Eva.

Despite everything, Aron and Eva slowly became friends.

They talked about books, music, history, and dreams.

For the first time, Aron believed he had found someone he could trust.

Someone who saw him as a person.

Not a name.

Then came the day everything changed.

The Yorkshire sky was dark, and rain poured before the final bell rang.

Eva had forgotten her umbrella.

Aron offered to walk her home.

They laughed beneath the rain, unaware that it would become the last innocent memory he had of her.

When they arrived at her house, Eva invited him inside to dry off.

The old house was quiet.

Too quiet.

And Aron believed he was safe.

He believed he was with someone who cared about him.

But he was wrong.

Jason appeared with several other students.

A camera flashed.

The moment that followed was not an accident.

It was a cruel plan.

A humiliation designed to break the confidence of a boy who had trusted too easily.

Aron stood frozen as laughter filled the room.

The person he thought understood him had been part of it.

Eva.

The girl he had admired.

The girl he had trusted.

She had betrayed him.

That was the moment something inside Aron Loghan shattered.

Not because of a single cruel joke.

But because the first person he had allowed close had been the one to hurt him.

After that day, Aron changed.

He stopped believing in love.

He stopped trusting kindness.

He built walls around himself so high that no one could reach him.

More than twenty years had passed.

Eva had forgotten.

Forgotten the quiet boy whose heart she had destroyed.

But Aron had never forgotten her.