Rebirth: Love me Again

[DANIEL]

Eve reciprocated his feelings—tentatively, cautiously, but enough to ignite a fragile spark of hope in him.

"I won't know until I give it a chance," Eve had said with a soft, uncertain smile. "And I want to give you that chance, Daniel."

It was the most amazing and happiest moment of Daniel's life. Her words were etched into his memory, replaying in his mind like a melody that never lost its sweetness. For a fleeting moment, he believed he could have everything he had ever wanted.

But in the quiet corners of his mind, doubts lingered. A small, persistent voice whispered that Eve's decision wasn't born out of love for him but rather an attempt to forget Cole. He saw it in her moments of hesitation, in the way her gaze would occasionally drift, searching for someone who wasn't there.

And yet, Daniel didn't care. If being with him could help her heal, if he could be her solace, her distraction, her anchor, he would gladly play that role. Even if her heart wasn't truly his, he convinced himself he could make her happy.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks into months. Months into years. Their trial run became something more permanent, but with permanence came an aching clarity Daniel could no longer ignore.

No matter how much time passed, no matter how much he gave, Eve's heart remained out of reach. It wasn't that she didn't care for him—she did. Her smiles were genuine, her laughter warm.

But Daniel knew her love for Cole still lingered like a ghost between them, an unspoken presence that haunted every moment they shared.

Her heart, he realized, would always and forever belong to Cole.

One quiet dinner night, Daniel made a decision. It was time to let her go, to set her free from the weight of his love and the expectations she hadn't asked for. He'd tried for years to be enough for her, but love, he now understood, couldn't be forced.

The words heavy on his tongue as he looked across the table at her, her eyes soft and curious. Before he could speak, the sound of shattering glass erupted, followed by a cacophony of gunfire. Experience tales at empire

"Get down!" Daniel shouted, his instincts taking over.

The restaurant descended into chaos. People screamed and scrambled for cover, tables overturning in the frenzy. Daniel reached for Eve, pulling her close, shielding her body with his own as bullets tore through the air.

And then, out of nowhere, Cole appeared.

Daniel couldn't process it at first. Cole—the man whose presence had silently loomed over their lives for so long—was suddenly there, moving with a speed that seemed almost unreal, taking down the gunmen with ease as his gaze fixed solely on Eve.

In the split second it took for Daniel to register his presence, a stray bullet ricocheted, heading straight for him. He barely had time to react before Cole threw himself into the line of fire, shielding Daniel with his body.

The gunfire ceased as quickly as it had begun, leaving behind a deafening silence.

Daniel knelt beside Cole, his hands trembling as he pressed against the wound in his chest. Blood seeped through his fingers, warm and unrelenting.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Cole's breathing was shallow, his lips moving as though to speak, but no sound came out.

"Stay with me," Daniel pleaded, his voice breaking. "You'll be okay. Just hold on."

But he knew. He knew the truth the moment he saw where the bullet had struck—right in the heart.

Eve collapsed beside them, sobbing uncontrollably, her hands shaking as she cradled Cole's face. "Don't leave me," she whispered, over and over, her voice raw with desperation. "Cole, please. Don't leave me."

The light in Cole's eyes dimmed, and with one final, shuddering breath, he was gone.

Daniel sat frozen, the reality of what had just happened crashing over him like a tidal wave. But the nightmare wasn't over.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in a cold morgue, staring at Cole's lifeless body on the metal slab. Eve was there too, her face pale and hollow, her eyes vacant as though her soul had already left her.

He should have seen it coming, should have known she wouldn't—couldn't—live without Cole. But when the morgue attendant found her lifeless beside Cole's body hours later, Daniel felt the ground beneath him crumble.

Days blurred together, and soon he was standing at a double funeral—Cole's and Eve's. The heaviness of his grief was suffocating, pressing down on him until he could barely breathe.

He looked down at the two caskets, regret clawing at his chest. He'd thought confessing his feelings would lead to something beautiful. Instead, it had ended in tragedy.

"I should have never said anything," he whispered to himself, tears streaming down his face.

I shouldn't have . . .

. . . said anything . . .

And then he woke up.

The sound of his own ragged breathing filled the room as he bolted upright, his heart pounding against his ribs. Sweat drenched his body, his mind racing to make sense of what was real and what wasn't.

It was a dream—a cruel, vivid dream. But the pain in his chest, the ache of loss, felt all too real.

And in that moment, Daniel realized something he couldn't ignore: if love meant losing Eve like that, he'd rather let her go before it ever came to this.

Daniel's breath came in shallow, uneven bursts as he stared at his phone, his eyes fixated on the glaringly familiar date displayed on the screen. The present. His present.

It wasn't the future he had dreaded, the one filled with heartbreak, loss, and regret. He was still in his final year of school, standing at a crossroads where none of the tragedies had yet unfolded.

Eve hadn't been standing behind the tree that night during the study session. She hadn't been watching him from the shadows, waiting for words he hadn't yet found the courage to say.

Instead, she had been absent entirely, rushed to the hospital after a sudden and mysterious stomach illness. Everyone whispered it might have been food poisoning, likely caused by something Lily and Sophie had done, though the matter was quietly swept under the rug and never spoken of again.

That night, the memory of Eve's beautiful face in the garden had haunted him, but the truth of her absence had been a strange relief.

Daniel sighed heavily, raking his fingers through his hair as he forced himself back into the present. The cold light of the morning cut through his thoughts like a blade, and reality crashed down on him with the weight of inevitability. Today wasn't just any day.

It was

the

day.

The day he was to meet

her.

Lina Fay.