Chapter 10 - Epilogue:From Ryan's Point of View The first time I saw Serena Linden was at a café next to Fort Evergreen Base. She wore faded jeans, hugged a stack of learning materials, her fingertips still smudged with ink-but when I mentioned the stipend, her eyes lit up as if filled with starlight. At that moment, I only thought-this girl was bold, and clear-headed enough. She needed tuition; I needed a shield against my family's expectations. A transaction of mutual convenience -it seemed perfect. On the day we signed the agreement, I placed the Pinecrest Estate keys in front of her and casually said, "Just be natural. The key is that no one suspects this isn't real." Her fingertips trembled as she took the keys, but she straightened her back and said, "You have my word, Mr. Vance. I will not cross the line." At the time, I thought little of it, attributing it to a fear of losing this lucrative "position." It would be years before I understood that, from that very first meeting, I had begun constructing a wall between my heart and hers. At first, having her accompany me to banquets was purely contractual. But every time, she would research the guests in advance, quietly hand me warm water when troublesome politicians hassled me, or defuse a situation with a perfectly timed joke. Once, when a department head tried to grope her, I instinctively kicked him aside. When I shoved a wine bottle into her hand, I said, "Consider it a brawl. And remember, I am your backing." Half of that was about preserving "Mrs. Vance's" dignity. The other half was because I couldn't bear seeing her pretend to be calm while clearly afraid. I thought I could maintain boundaries until that celebration dinner, when the secretary mocked her as "jealous." She clutched her herbal detox tea, eyes full of stubbornness. A sudden panic seized me-the fear that she was growing attached, and the deeper, more terrifying fear that I was losing my own grip. So I took her to the study, pointed to a painting of Isabella on the wall, and said coldly, "I've loved her for ten years," adding a supplementary agreement. I used rules as a barricade, blind to the fact that I had already grown accustomed to the space she filled within the walls of Pinecrest Estate. She would warm soup for me when I worked late; place lozenges on my desk during seasonal coughs; even Chapter 10 - Epilogue:From Ryan's Point of View 100.00% attempt to knit scarves, her clumsy fingers punctured with tiny holes. These small, consistent acts were the provervial pot of water slowly heating around me. Without my even realizing it, the ice around my heart began to thaw, though I never spoke a word of it. But I always thought Isabella was my youthful promise, my responsibility. Serena was just a contractual "partner"; I could not afford to involve her. Until Isabella returned to the country, everything went awry. The day she was hit while riding a bicycle, I rushed over and saw her knee bleeding, yet she bit her lip and said, "I don't know you. The sight sent a sharp, unexpected pang through me. But with Isabella sobbing beside her, I had to attend to the immediate situation-draping my coat over Isabella's shoulders and ordering my aide to ensure Serena got to the hospital. Later, I waited at the estate for her, intending to ask if she was hurt-words that instead became, "Dinner at the Vance family manor tonight." I watched Serena skillfully apply makeup, match outfits, and link her arm with mine, just as countless times before. For a moment, I thought such days could continue. But I ultimately hurt her. Her mother needed surgery; Isabella seized the spot. When Serena brought the marriage certificate to the hospital, I was out of town placating Isabella. By the time I returned, her eyes were red as she asked, "Why involve innocent people?" I sneered, "Does your mother have anything to do with me?" The look on her face is seared into my memory-all the light gone from her eyes, as if I had extinguished it myself. Yet, her spine remained straight as she said, "Then from now on, you are nothing to me." The day she left, I sat on the sofa, listening to the rolling wheels of her suitcase fade away, afraid to get up to stop her. I was terrified that speaking would shatter the careful facade I maintained; even more, I dreaded the question I saw in her eyes-"Did you ever care for me?" a question for which I had no honest answer. Later, I found her notebook in the estate. Notes like "Mr. Vance said my soup is good", "Pricked my fingers while knitting a scarf", and the last page "Two months left on the contract; time to leave." Chapter 10 - Epilogue From Ryan's Point of View 100.00% I locked those memories away, thinking she would return-but she left so thoroughly. She changed her phone number, moved, even switched her mother's hospital. Isabella later confessed that she had deliberately seized the spot, even falsifying evidence that I "favored her." I had broken up with her, and frantically searched for Serena, but couldn't find a trace. I went to her previous university, asked all her classmates and waited at bookstores she frequented for an entire month. I even tracked all flights to the Republic of Valeria, only learning she had gone to the base of Mount Serenity, becoming an adventure coach. The next time I saw her, it was long after. She stood in the snow, wearing a windbreaker, hands covered with frostbite-but smiling brighter than sunlight. She called me "Mr. Vance" and extended her hand in greeting, her tone detached. In the heart-stopping moment of the fall, my mind held only her image. I was afraid I'd never see her again, afraid I'd never have the chance to say, "I'm sorry." So I untied the safety rope, determined to pull her up-even if I ended up battered and bloodied. In that cave, I said many reckless things that I kept her plants, that I searched for her, that I had liked her all along. Those weren't the ramblings of a concussed man-they were the truths I had suppressed for six long years. Yet she remained silent. Later, in the hospital, she said, "We're like two lines that once intersected, now extending in different directions." Watching her walk away, I finally understood-I had pushed her away with my own hands; I had missed the best of her. I never married again, never sought her out. I followed her adventure updates from afar-I would quietly 'like' her social media posts from the summit of Mount Serenity. I had the warmest expedition-grade parka delivered to her before her Antarctic research mission. I even discreetly authorized a standby rescue team when her group was caught in a whiteout-ensuring she never knew it was me. Chapter 10-Epilogue From Ryan's Point of View 100.00% When asked if I regretted it, I said yes. Regret using the contract to confine her, regret not realizing my own heart sooner, regret choosing someone else when she needed me most. But I don't blame her. She has her mountains, her dreams-freedom I never could give her. Now, I occasionally visit that estate, looking at her plants, touching the unfinished scarf, imagining if she were still there-cooking soup in the kitchen, watching adventure documentaries in the living room. Outside, the snow falls and eventually melts, season after season. And my remembrance of her is just as constant. I know I will never meet another girl like her in this lifetime. But as long as she is happy, I am content to be the silent sentinel in the shadows, watching from a distance as she scales ever-higher peaks, becoming wholly and brilliantly herself. Prologue