The Five Powerhouses Who Match the Unwilling Bride
Chapter 157 Unfinished Promises
Finished
“I planned to wait for your victorious return and cook you a proper meal–prove I wasn’t hopeless in the kitchen after all. I never expected you wouldn’t come back at all.
“I waited until the pain became unbearable. I couldn’t hold on any longer. So I left. I stopped waiting for you. You won’t blame me… will you?”
Tears gathered in Yara’s eyes. Her heart had already been shattered beyond repair.
“That year, during my first–birthday party, I tugged on your sleeve during the game and drooled all over your face. The adults laughed themselves silly. You held me awkwardly, lifted me high above your head. I grabbed your hair and laughed nonstop. From that moment on, there was always a tiny figure following behind you…
“I loved you–no one else but you. You were my entire world. Ever since I was little, my dream was to marry you someday. Everyone knew it except you, you clueless fool. You never understood, and you even tried to match me with someone else. I was furious! How could a man be that unbelievably oblivious?
“Patrick, this is the first time I’ve come to your grave–and it will also be the last. From today forward, I won’t come back. What you owe me–I’ll seek you out after I die and demand my answer.”
From the instant Yara began talking at Patrick’s grave, Ava quietly stepped a short distance away. Before long, a muted, broken sobbing drifted through the air, thin yet heavy with sorrow. Anyone who heard it could feel the pain woven into each sound.
Ava pressed her lips together as memories of Patrick flooded her mind.
Her vision blurred as tears welled up. She crossed her arms, buried her face in the crook of her elbow, and let out quiet sobs from time to time.
She didn’t know how much time had passed before someone rested a hand on her shoulder. She looked up quickly. “Granny Yara.”
Yara studied her tear–filled eyes. “Are you missing your grandpa?”
Ava nodded. “I am. I really miss him.”
“You were everything to him,” Yara said gently. “Ava, those who have passed can’t come back. All we can do is keep moving forward.”
Without a word, Ava took out a small box and passed it to Yara. “This belonged to my grandpa. I think… it should be with you instead of me.”
Yara accepted the box and opened it. Inside was a necklace–plain and unassuming. With trembling fingers, she touched it twice before turning over the tag. Two characters were engraved on it: ‘Patrick Morren.‘
Yara lifted the necklace and closed her fist around it. “This is… your grandpa’s heirloom?”
“In all my memories, he always wore it. He never took it off.”
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Chapter 157 Unfinished Promises
Finished
Yara inhaled deeply, her voice unsteady. “I was the one who gave him this charm. The year he went to war, I spent a long time praying in the chapel and had it made into a necklace. Before he left, I put it on him myself, hoping it would keep him safe and bring him home.
“I never thought that after so many turns of fate, it would return to me like this. Your grandpa and I–fate played with us the same way it played with this.”
She turned the charm over in her hands, examining it carefully. Then she raised it, shut her eyes, and pressed a kiss against it.
“I told him that when he came back this time, we would get married. We would have a daughter. Her formal name would be Ava Morren. Her nickname would be Avie…
“He came back alive, but he forgot me. In his years of loneliness, Ava, you became his fresh start and his hope. I should be grateful to fate–for giving him you.”
Ava had never known her name carried such meaning. She had always believed Patrick chose it casually. Only now did she understand–it was once a young girl’s most sincere promise to her fiancé. He lost all his memories–even of her–but still clung tightly to that promise.
The tears Ava had barely managed to hold back spilled freely now. It felt as though her heart had been torn apart, leaving her gasping for air.
Listening to Yara’s calm, gentle voice, Ava could almost see two young lovers in their most radiant years. The flower never had the chance to bear fruit–it bloomed only to fade
Yara gazed at Ava, her eyes soft, as if through the girl she were seeing the man she had loved.
She raised her hand and softly wiped the tears from Ava’s cheeks. “Don’t cry, sweetie. If you keep this up, your grandpa will scold me from beneath the ground…”
With a hoarse voice, Ava asked, “Granny Yara, can I hug you?”
“Of course.”
Ava wrapped her arms around her gently. “Granny Yara, at the very end, I know he remembered you. He personally placed this necklace into my hand. Back then, I didn’t understand the yearning and regret in his
eyes.
“I didn’t know who he missed or what he regretted. But now I understand. He must have been thinking of you. You were the one regret he could never reach again.”
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