“Would you like something to drink? I can get you—”

“No, no!” Eric shook his head quickly.

“I’m fine, not thirsty!” He wasn’t here for refreshments, after all.

“Alright, I see.” Hadley stayed composed.

“You’re here because you have something to say, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Eric nodded, his eyes meeting hers.

They had once been bound by marriage, the closest of ties, yet he remembered none of it.

The mix of familiarity and distance left him rattled, uncertain.

He stumbled over his words.

“I’ve learned about our past, that we… we have a daughter.”

“That’s right.” Hadley nodded gently, her smile soft, waiting for him to go on.

Eric’s nerves tightened his throat, his mouth dry. He shut his eyes briefly.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t recognize her that day.”

“That day…” Hadley’s voice grew hoarse, her face turning slightly.

“I owe you an apology too… I didn’t realize you had forgotten everything, and I lashed out at you.”

“No, no!” Eric’s brow furrowed, shaking his head vigorously.

“You don’t need to apologize! It’s my fault!”

He thought back to that day, picturing his lovely, radiant daughter.

“Her name is… Joyce Scott? And I remember…” He paused, searching his memory.

“You called her Joy?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Hadley nodded, her voice tender.

“You picked the name Joyce for her when we had paperwork to handle back then.”

“Is that so?” Eric’s eyes glistened for a moment.

Ltτ ch?ɑρτ?rs ιn glov?l.?оm

He couldn’t recall it, but to have named his daughter like that, he must have cherished her deeply.

He nodded slowly, pressing his hands to his face, waiting for the wave of emotion to pass.

When he lowered them, his voice was rough.

“Can I ask… why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well…” Hadley paused, her smile faint.

“I didn’t think it was necessary. When we divorced, you had already given me Joy’s full custody. She’s the only tie we have left. Since you don’t remember her, who I am doesn’t really matter to you.”

Eric was thrown, her calm words revealing a chasm of indifference and distance.

Was their connection truly severed?

A strange frustration gnawed at him as he tapped his temple.

“When I had that surgery… you didn’t come to see me?”

Hadley’s words caught in her throat, her mouth opening briefly.

She had actually gone to see him once, but she had arrived too late, and the Scott family’s tight security had kept her from his hospital room.

Those details, though, weren’t worth dredging up now.

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“No.”

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.

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