The Love I Never Expected

The sound of rain filled the room. Soft. Constant. Almost peaceful. Cassian was standing in the middle of a long, empty road. He looked down at himself. He was fifteen again. His school uniform was slightly wrinkled, his shoes were dirty, and his hair was still damp from the rain. He could hear laughter somewhere ahead of him. His mother’s laughter. Cassian’s heart immediately tightened. “Cassian!” He looked up. His mother was standing beside the family car, smiling at him. His father was leaning against the driver’s door, laughing about something. His grandparents stood nearby, arguing playfully about where they should stop for lunch. Everyone was there. Everyone he had lost. His mother opened her arms. “Come here, sweetheart.” Cassian ran toward her. “Mom!” But just as he reached her— CRASH. The world shattered. Glass flew through the air. Metal twisted. Someone screamed. Cassian heard his father’s voice. Then his mother’s. Then silence. “Mom?” He turned around. The car was destroyed. Smoke filled the road. “Dad?” Nothing. “Grandma?” His voice cracked. “Grandpa?” Nobody answered. Cassian began running. He tried opening the car door. It wouldn’t move. He pulled harder. “Please!” His hands slipped. “Please, wake up!” He could see them. He could see all of them. But none of them moved. Cassian screamed. “PLEASE!” Suddenly, the road changed. The rain disappeared. He was standing inside an airport. People were rushing around him. His grandmother was holding his hand. His grandfather was laughing. His mother was taking pictures. His father was complaining about how much luggage they had. They had just returned from Hawaii. It had been one of the happiest trips of his childhood. Cassian smiled. For the first time in years, he felt safe. Then the lights above him flickered. His mother’s hand slipped from his. “Mom?” She disappeared. “Dad?” Gone. His grandparents vanished next. Cassian stood completely alone. “No.” He ran through the airport. “Wait!” He couldn’t find anyone. “Please!” His voice echoed. “Don’t leave me!” Then he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Cassian.” He turned. His father stood there. But his face was pale. “Dad?” His father smiled sadly. “You have to wake up.” Cassian shook his head. “No.” “You have to.” “No!” His father stepped backward. Cassian ran toward him. “Don’t leave me again!” His father’s figure began disappearing. “Dad!” Cassian reached out. His fingers passed through him. “DAD!” ⸻ Cassian Valerian woke up with a violent gasp. He sat upright. His chest rose and fell rapidly. For several seconds, he had no idea where he was. The room was dark. Cold. Silent. His sheets were twisted around his legs, and sweat covered his forehead and neck. Cassian pressed a hand against his chest. His heart was pounding. He closed his eyes. It was a dream. Just another dream. Except it had felt real. They always did. He looked toward the enormous windows overlooking the city. It was three forty-seven in the morning. Again. Cassian hadn’t slept properly in weeks. Sometimes months felt like one long night. He reached for the glass of water beside his bed and drank slowly. His hands were trembling. He hated that. Cassian Valerian hated feeling weak. At twenty-five, there were very few things in this world that could frighten him. Death wasn’t one of them. He had already met death. It had taken everything from him when he was fifteen. His parents. His grandparents. His childhood. His sense of security. Everything. One accident had turned a fifteen-year-old boy into the heir to one of the most powerful business empires in the country. The Valerian Group had been built over three generations. Hotels. Real estate. Technology. Shipping. Private investments. Financial institutions. Luxury properties scattered across different countries. By the time Cassian was old enough to understand the numbers, he realized something terrifying. He was wealthy enough that most people would never understand the amount of money attached to his name. And that money had attracted people. Too many people. After the funeral, relatives suddenly appeared. Friends suddenly appeared. People who had never called his father started calling him. People who had never cared about Cassian suddenly wanted to know how he was doing. Some cried. Some prayed. Some hugged him. Some offered to help. Cassian had believed them at first. He was fifteen. He was still a child. Then he learned. Gold diggers. Manipulators. People pretending to be friends. Executives trying to steal from the company. Lawyers trying to control his inheritance. Family members trying to convince him to sign documents he didn’t understand. People who smiled at him while calculating how much they could take. Cassian learned quickly. Very quickly. Numbers made sense to him. People didn’t. So he trusted numbers. He trusted balance sheets. Contracts. Reports. Statistics. Numbers didn’t pretend to love you. Numbers didn’t hug you while planning to betray you. Numbers didn’t promise forever. They simply told the truth. And Cassian understood the truth. He was exceptionally intelligent. By twenty-five, he had become the youngest person ever to take complete control of the Valerian Group. He didn’t need anyone to tell him what to do. He had spent years studying his family’s business. He knew every major investment. Every debt. Every acquisition. Every weakness. Every employee who could be trusted. And every person who couldn’t. His board members had initially assumed he was too young. They stopped thinking that after the first meeting. Cassian rarely raised his voice. He didn’t need to. His quietness was more intimidating than shouting. His most recognizable feature was his eyes. Soft gray eyes. Beautiful eyes. Almost gentle. They made him look approachable. Until someone actually met his gaze. Then they understood. There was nothing soft about the man behind them. Cassian rubbed his face. He hadn’t fallen in love since the accident. He hadn’t allowed himself to. How could he? Love had never seemed permanent to him. He had watched his entire world disappear in a single day. So why would he believe someone could stay? Why would he allow himself to become attached? What if he loved someone and lost them too? Cassian couldn’t survive another loss. At least, that’s what he told himself. A soft knock came at the door. Cassian looked up. “Come in.” The door opened slowly. An elderly woman stepped inside. Her silver hair was neatly tied behind her head. She wore a simple robe and looked worried. “Nanny?” “You’re awake again.” Cassian looked away. “I had a nightmare.” “I know.” She walked toward him. She had been with Cassian since he was a baby. She had been there when he took his first steps. There when he started school. There when he came home crying after losing his first childhood pet. And she had been there on the worst day of his life. When everyone else was gone, she stayed. She was the only person in the enormous Valerian mansion who never looked at Cassian and saw money first. She looked at him and saw the little boy she had raised. She sat beside him. “You haven’t slept properly.” “I sleep.” “Two hours isn’t sleeping.” Cassian gave her a tired look. “You count?” “I’ve raised you for twenty-five years. I know when you’re lying.” For the smallest moment, the corner of Cassian’s mouth lifted. “You’re getting bold.” “I’ve always been bold.” She reached toward him and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead. “You need rest.” “I have a meeting at eight.” “You can cancel it.” “No.” “Cassian.” “I’ll be fine.” She sighed. “You always say that.” Cassian didn’t answer. Because she was right. He always said he was fine. Even when he wasn’t. A phone vibrated on the nightstand. Cassian looked at the screen. One name. Elias. His best friend. The only person Cassian could honestly call a friend. Elias had known him before the money changed everything. Before the accident. Before Cassian became the cold businessman everyone feared. Before the expensive suits and security teams. Before people started whispering his name whenever he walked into a room. Elias knew the real Cassian. The boy who hated thunderstorms. The teenager who secretly ate chocolate at midnight. The man who still woke up from nightmares calling for his mother. Cassian stared at the phone. It vibrated again. And again. Finally, he answered. “It’s almost four in the morning,” Cassian said. Elias’s sleepy voice came through the phone. “Yeah. Because you aren’t sleeping.” Cassian frowned. “How do you know?” “Because you always answer when you’re awake.” Silence. Elias sighed. “Another nightmare?” Cassian looked toward the window. “Yes.” “Same one?” Cassian swallowed. “Different.” “What happened?” Cassian didn’t answer immediately. He watched the city lights below him. For years, he had convinced himself that he had moved on. That he had become stronger. That he had accepted what happened. But every night, his subconscious reminded him of the same truth. He was still that fifteen-year-old boy standing beside a wrecked car. Still screaming for his mother. Still begging his father not to leave. Still searching for people who were never coming back. Cassian finally spoke. “I saw them again.” Elias became quiet. “All of them?” “All of them.” “I’m sorry.” Cassian closed his eyes. “I hate dreaming about them.” “Why?” “Because for a few minutes, they’re alive.” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Then I wake up and lose them all over again.” Neither man spoke. Cassian looked down at his hands. Then he slowly clenched them. He couldn’t change the past. He couldn’t bring his family back. But he could protect what they left behind. The Valerian empire. His father’s legacy. His mother’s charity foundations. His grandparents’ investments. Everything. Cassian had spent ten years building walls around himself. He had money. Power. Influence. Intelligence. Security. Everything a person could possibly need. Except peace. And somewhere deep inside him, beneath all the control and all the coldness, Cassian was terrified of one thing. That someday— someone would finally get past those walls. And he would love them. Because if he did… He already knew exactly what love could cost him.