8. It’s You…

Adrian’s Point of View

I returned to the office after the meeting at 4Axis.

There were documents waiting.

There were always documents waiting.

I went through one file, trying to read the figures carefully, but I wasn’t focused.

My mind kept returning to the restaurant.

To her.

I hadn’t expected to see her again, especially not in a restaurant I visited occasionally. The moment I saw her in that white apron with Lena’s embroidered across it, I was surprised.

She must have started recently.

The way she moved, careful, observant, still learning the rhythm of the place, told me she hadn’t been there long.

Probably she had already left that man? If that’s so, it’s better for her. 

But is she doing well? How is she holding up?

I set my pen down and let out a quiet breath.

I couldn’t remember the last time I worried about someone.

No matter how focused I was on my goals, no matter how carefully I avoided interfering in other people’s lives, I had helped people who desperately needed my help.

But none of them had ever made me this worried.

Maybe…

She was the kind of woman who deserved it. Who deserves everything.

She was the kind of woman who stopped for a stranger on a dark road.

Three years ago, on a dark, freezing winter night, I had an accident far from the city.

But it wasn’t just an accident.

When I stepped out of the car to see what had happened, I was attacked. There were so many of them that even if I tried to fight, I was at a disadvantage. 

They beat me brutally, left me in the wreckage, and took my car.

I lay by the roadside, bleeding, the cold seeping into my bones.

For how long, I didn’t know.

At some point, I had given up.

I had stopped trying to move. I remember thinking the rain was getting warmer. It wasn't. That was when I knew.

Then…

I heard it. An engine. A car stopped nearby.

Footsteps running toward me.

A voice, young, panicked, cutting through the rain and the darkness.

“Oh, my God!”

Her hands had cupped my face. She had been shaking. Terrified.

But she didn’t leave.

“Stay with me… please… stay with me. Everything is going to be okay.”

She kept talking.

Her voice was the only thing that pulled me back whenever the darkness tried to drag me under.

When I woke up in the hospital, she was gone.

All I had was her name; the staff mentioned it in passing. She hadn’t left any personal details.

But I remembered her face. I remembered her voice.

And I carried that memory with me, like something too important to ever forget.

Three months ago, I saw her again outside my own company.

Standing beside a man, I already knew had an affair with his immediate superior.

Her face. Her voice.

Something in both had reached across the years and touched that memory.

The next day, Watson confirmed what I already suspected.

However, when I learned about the relationship she had with that man, something shifted in me. Something I couldn’t explain with logic.

Since then… I had broken the rules I had set for myself.

And I did not regret it.

I picked up my pen again.

There was still work to be done.

Serena’s Point of View

A week and a half after I started working at Lena’s, I went to the hospital for my first scan.

I was both nervous and excited as I sat in the waiting room alone, while every other woman had someone with her.

A husband gently touching her growing belly. A mother whispering reassurance. A friend holding her hand. 

Someone…

And me…

There was no one.

No hands to hold. No comforting words.

Nothing.

“That’s fine…” I whispered, resting my hand on my stomach.

“I have you. That’s enough.”

When my name was called, I walked into the room.

The doctor was kind.

She explained each step, checked everything carefully, and asked how I was feeling.

And then…

The room was filled with a sound.

Fast. Steady. Beautiful.

My baby’s heartbeat.

I bit my lip as tears rolled down my face.

There you are…

“It is a strong heartbeat,” the doctor said with a smile. “Everything looks good. The baby is developing well.”

She glanced at me gently.

“Try to manage your stress. Eat properly. And take your vitamins regularly. That’s very important.”

I nodded.

“Thank you,” I managed to say.

When I stepped out, the next patient was waiting near the door.

Her husband stood beside her, his arm wrapped protectively around her. He had no idea how lucky he was. To be there. To have been there for all of it.

I walked past them.

Slowly.

The scan photo is still in my hand. The sound of that heartbeat echoed in my ears.

I turned into a quieter corridor.

My legs suddenly felt weak. My heart was throbbing. My fingers traced the tiny shape on the scan.

So small. So precious.

It should have been a perfect moment. A magical one. 

But…

I wished someone were there. Someone to share it with. Someone to tell me everything would be alright.

That I would be a good mother. That I was strong enough.

But there was no one.

Not beside me. Not waiting for me. Nowhere in the world.

I had held myself together for weeks.

Through everything. The apartment. The job rejections. The exhaustion.

Every day, I reminded myself, I chose this. I can handle this.

But this moment…

Even the strongest person would break.

I leaned back against the wall.

And I did.

Quietly.

My shoulders shook. The photograph trembled in my hands.

I pressed my hand against my mouth, trying to silence my sobs. But I couldn’t.

Loneliness had always been part of my life. But was this fair?

Crying alone in a hospital corridor… on what should have been one of the happiest days of my life?

This feeling was overwhelmingly heavy.

My vision blurred. The sound of my own breathing became too loud.

I tried to steady myself, but the world tilted.

My fingers loosened around the scan photo.

No!

I tightened my grip desperately. That photo was the most precious thing in my life.

I knew what was about to happen…

And then…

Strong hands caught me.

Firm. Steady.

Before I could fall.

“Careful.”

A voice.

Deep. Calm. It was familiar.

A sense of déjà vu washed over me.

The world was still spinning.

But just before everything went dark, I saw him.

Those eyes. Cold, green. I'm sure I've seen them before. 

They were familiar…

“It’s… you…” I murmured.