“Can I ask for something?”

Hadley looked at him, slightly curious.

“What is it?”

“When you…” He hesitated for a moment, then said gently, “When you talk to Joy about me, would it be okay if I listened in?”

He wanted to hear firsthand how his daughter responded. Eric knew that would help him move forward with more clarity.

Hadley thought it over and found his request perfectly reasonable.

“Sure, that’s fine.”

“That’s amazing!” Eric said, a mix of relief and joy washing over him.

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Hadley replied gently, shaking her head.

“This is for Joy.”

“Right…”

“In that case, I’ll go pick her up now.”

“Okay.”

As Hadley turned away, Eric looked at her slim figure and calm, beautiful face. His throat tightened. Then, suddenly, he reached out and caught her arm.

“Wait!”

Startled, Hadley turned back.

“Is there something else?”

“Yes,” Eric replied, his eyes locking onto hers, intense and vulnerable. His heartbeat thundered in his chest.

“Before I lost my memory, did I ever show you that I had feelings for you?”

What could Hadley possibly say to that?

There were times in the past two years when Eric had shown real kindness toward her. Without some form of genuine feeling, those moments might not have happened at all. Still, she didn’t have a definite answer.

м?г? υρт ?т g?l?l?.

“That’s a tricky one…” Hadley said, casting her eyes downward as a gentle smile tugged at her lips.

“Maybe it’s not me you should be asking.”

She hesitated, then added, “I’d say you ought to ask the man you used to be. Only he would know the truth.”

That response caught Eric off guard. It struck a chord.

The heart’s motives were rarely easy to understand.

No one else could truly uncover what he once felt but himself. And now, even he couldn’t go back to ask himself. He couldn’t remember the person he used to be.

That silence gnawed at Eric, so he shifted gears and asked, “What about you? Was there ever a time you liked me?”

Caught off guard, Hadley blinked, a twinge of feeling tightening in her chest. She hadn’t expected him to keep pushing.

Letting out a small laugh, she said, “Why bring that up now? What difference would it make?”

She gave a gentle shake of her head and added, “Even if you’ve lost all those memories, the truth is still here with us—we ended things.”

Indeed, the truth was simple. They went their separate ways.

Hadley found it harder to breathe, her chest rising with effort.

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