For a second, hope flickered inside his eyes like a candle struggling against the wind.
But Isabella's expression did not soften.
It was calm, almost cruel in its composure.
Because imagining a future did not mean it would come true.
Because dreaming together did not mean they could still walk the same road.
Brandon Hughes stared at her for a long time, and then his lips curved into a desolate smile.
"It seems… we really have no fate in this life."
His voice was full of exhaustion, the kind of exhaustion that came from losing something you had once believed you would never lose.
"Maybe… love was a mistake."
"Maybe I shouldn't have fallen in love with you."
Isabella's heart clenched so hard that she almost couldn't breathe.
It felt like an awl was twisting slowly inside her chest, grinding into old scars that had never fully healed.
She forced herself to smile, but that smile was pale, thin, and edged with determination.
"No."
