Chapter 18. The Garden of Memories
381 Words
The cold night air brushed softly against Elena’s face as she stepped out of the De Luca mansion.
For the first time in her life…
She truly felt hopeless.
The signed contract remained tightly pressed against her chest while tears silently rolled down her cheeks.
Tomorrow, she would report to De Luca Private Hospital to begin the surrogacy process.
Tomorrow…
Her life would no longer belong to her.
Elena slowly walked through the quiet streets of Milan without knowing where she was going.
Her mind felt heavy.
Broken.
Lost.
And somehow her feet unconsciously led her toward a familiar place.
Their old secondary school garden.
The place she and Adrian once secretly met almost every evening years ago.
Back then, Adrian wasn’t cold.
Wasn’t feared.
Wasn’t a billionaire mafia king.
He was simply Adrian.
The boy who carried her books.
The boy who sang with her beneath the sunset.
The boy who promised he would never forget her.
Elena slowly entered the small garden gate.
Everything looked older now.
The flowers had faded slightly while the old wooden benches remained untouched beneath the dim lights.
A painful smile appeared on her lips.
“This place still remembers us…” she whispered softly.
But Adrian didn’t.
Tears blurred her vision again.
Elena slowly sat beside the old wall near the music garden where they once carved tiny initials together during school.
She remembered how happy they were then.
How deeply they loved each other.
And now…
He was married to someone else while she carried the burden of becoming his surrogate.
The pain became unbearable.
Elena bent down quietly and cried.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
Just silent heartbreak breaking apart slowly inside her chest.
After a while, she wiped her tears weakly before reaching into her bag for a small marker.
Slowly…
She wrote softly on the old garden wall.
“You forgot our melody…
but I still remember every note.”
Elena stared at the words for a few seconds before smiling sadly.
Then she stood up.
Maybe it was finally time to let him go.
Maybe loving Adrian De Luca was the most painful mistake of her life.
Without looking back again, Elena quietly walked away from the garden—
Completely unaware that fate wasn’t done with their story yet.
- Writer
