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“Beatrice, did you bring Caius back?” the base chaplain asked over the phone. Before I could answer, the dark green military SUV in front of us swerved violently. Our driver couldn't react in time. There was a screech of tires and a brutal impact, and both vehicles shuddered to a halt. The next second, Caius shoved his door open, stumbled out, and took off running in the opposite direction. The radio in our car crackled to life, the officer in the chase vehicle sounding frantic. “Commander Santoro is refusing to cooperate! He says he has to get back to the clinic! Captain Sinclair, do we pursue?” Three years ago, when we first found Caius, I would have panicked. Back then, it felt like I couldn’t even breathe. This time, I didn't. “Don’t chase him,” I said. “Let him go.” After that, I went to Walter Reed and had the doctors examine my knee again. Then I took the new injury assessment report and sat down across from Caius’s parents. His mother’s eyes were red-rimmed, her voice trembling. “Bea, you’re still in his heart. Once he gets his memory back, he’ll marry you. He will…” I took out my phone and played the dashcam footage. In the video, Caius was grabbing for the steering wheel of a moving car, completely disregarding the consequences. “I’m not going with you! I promised I’d take care of Elena for the rest of my life! She’ll be scared all alone at the clinic!” I had never seen Caius like this. Not even when he’d confessed his feelings for me back at the military academy had he ever lost control like this. I slid the phone across the table toward them. “He hasn’t just forgotten the past. He’s already chosen someone else.” I met their eyes. “Mr. and Mrs. Santoro, you wouldn't want him shackled to a disabled woman for the rest of his life, would you?” My voice was even. “This is better for everyone.” In my last life, after Caius went missing in a flash flood, I’d spent five years searching the border mountains for him, dragging a knee that was injured again and again in the process. I finally found him in a remote clinic. By then, he had already fallen in love with Elena, the nurse who had cared for him. I insisted on bringing in the best specialists to restore his memory. But on the day he got it back, Elena jumped from the hospital roof. After that, Caius and I could never go back to the way we were. In the ten years of marriage that followed, we were practically strangers. When I eventually became paralyzed, he took care of me for years. But it wasn’t love. It was duty. I took off my engagement ring and set it on the table. “He saved my life. Now, I’m letting him go.” I looked from the ring to his parents. “The engagement is off.” This time, I would not make the same mistake. After leaving the Santoro house, I went straight to the clinic dormitory where Elena lived. Through the dusty window, I saw her dabbing at a scrape on Caius’s arm with an alcohol pad. He’d gotten it when he jumped from the car. Elena said something, a small smile playing on her lips. Caius lifted a hand and pinched her cheek. I couldn’t hear their words, but their intimacy was obvious. A deep, hollow ache settled in my chest. When Elena saw me, she immediately ushered Caius farther into the back room. Then she turned to face me, her eyes already welling up. “I didn’t mean to hide him!” My tone was flat. “Whether you meant to or not is something only you know.” Elena’s shoulders shook. She bit her lip, and after a few seconds, her voice rose with frantic energy. “Beatrice, I know he used to love you! When he was in a coma, he was still clutching your medal in his hand!” She took a ragged breath. “But I fell for him the first day I saw him at the clinic! I took care of him for so long. I watched him get better, bit by bit. I don’t want him to repay me, I just want to love him…” Her voice cracked. “Even if it’s just for one more day—one more day would be enough!” She cried with the desperation of someone who had already burned every bridge. I listened quietly, my gaze drifting past her to Caius, who was leaning against the doorway to the inner room. He was frowning at me, his body tense. The man who had once shielded me from a flash flood with his own body now saw me as a threat. If I showed Elena the slightest hint of impatience, he would be in front of her in a second. My chest tightened. But I knew, this time, I couldn’t keep him. I forced my lips into a smile. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m here to take both of you back to the base.” Elena froze. “You mean… both of us?” “Yes.” I nodded. “You’re the one he loves now. If I leave you here, he won’t come with me.” I kept my voice steady. “Go pack your things. You and Caius are both coming back.” I added, “Mr. and Mrs. Santoro already know about you. They won’t object to you two being together.” The news was too sudden. Elena was clearly too stunned to process it. She grabbed Caius’s hand, a disbelieving smile spreading across her face, then turned to start packing. Only then did Caius seem to accept that I wasn’t going to hurt Elena. He pressed his lips together, his posture relaxing slightly. “Sorry. I thought you were going to hurt her.” His entire world revolved around Elena now. No one remembered the dinner after that joint training exercise, when some drunk officer had reached out to touch me. Caius had immediately pulled me behind him, slapping the man’s hand away with a look so furious it had silenced the room. On the way back, he still hadn’t calmed down. He’d reached over and pinched my cheek. “Beatrice, next time anyone touches you, you stomp on his foot with your combat boot.” He’d even demonstrated for me, a clumsy motion that made me laugh. He’d ended up tickling me, pinning me against the car door until I begged for mercy. But that was a lifetime ago. Caius was no longer mine. I swallowed the memories and drove them back to the base. When it came time to explain who I was, everyone who knew the truth fell silent. I spoke first. “I’m a friend. We grew up together on the base. You always treated me like a little sister, and you even promised you’d introduce me to a good officer someday. Then you lost your memory, and everything got put on hold.” The others in the room who knew the truth looked grim. Caius didn’t seem to suspect a thing. He even laughed and added, “Of course. Once I’m settled in, I’ll pick out the best one for you. Big brother’s promise.” … Mrs. Santoro insisted I stay at their house for a few days, and I couldn’t find a good reason to refuse. The next day, coming back from an errand, I passed the weekend flea market near the training grounds and stopped dead. Caius was crouched on the ground, sorting through a pile of items. Elena was leaning against him, the two of them chatting and laughing as they put price tags on old belongings. Everything spread across the plastic sheet was something Caius and I had left behind. The wind chime he’d made for me from spent shell casings at the academy. The military canteen we’d shared. The commemorative medal he had given me. Even the small cloth keychain with my name stitched on it had been priced and tossed carelessly to one side. Elena picked up a tactical notebook and ran her finger over the words I’d written on the title page. “Do you think anyone will really buy this old junk?” Caius’s voice was gentle. “She and I were over a long time ago. Keeping this stuff just takes up space—and makes you overthink things.” As he spoke, he picked up an old fountain pen and handed it to a passing soldier. “Twenty bucks. It’s yours.” I stood in the shadow of a tree and watched him sell off ten years of our memories, piece by piece. In the end, it didn’t amount to much. Caius looked up and saw me. His expression tightened for a moment before smoothing over. “This stuff is useless now. Elena said it makes more sense to sell it cheap to people who can actually use it.” “That’s fine.” I turned and walked away without looking back. The evening wind stirred the price tags on the ground, making the faintest rustling sound. Over the next few days, the Santoro house was under constant renovation. The patch of gardenias Caius had once planted for me in the backyard was dug up and replaced with Elena’s roses. The rooftop terrace where we used to drink coffee and watch the stars was demolished to create the sun platform she wanted. Even the small observation deck was torn down for a glass greenhouse to house tropical plants. The day they planted the roses, Elena stopped me in the garden. She deliberately lifted her wrist so I could see the silver bracelet she was wearing. “Caius found the design in a drawer. He said he knew instantly it was meant for someone he loved. So he stayed up for nights making it for me by hand. Isn’t it beautiful?” It was a star chart. A pattern of constellations I had always loved. The flash flood had caught Caius and me in the first place because he’d wanted to take me somewhere high to see the stars. My throat tightened, but I managed a nod. “It’s beautiful. It suits you.” Elena’s expression soured. “But I don’t like it.” Her eyes met mine. “We both know it wasn’t designed for me. You keep saying you have no feelings for Caius, but all these things from your past are still here. It makes me uncomfortable.” “So what do you want to do?” I asked. Before I could finish, Elena let out a scream and threw herself backward. Her wrist hit the edge of a ceramic flowerpot. The bracelet snapped, the silver beads scattering into the freshly turned soil. The next second, a force slammed into me. I hit the ground, my elbow scraping against the stone steps with a jolt of pain that left it numb. Caius had rushed over, but he went to Elena first, helping her up. “What happened? Did you cut your hand? Are you hurt anywhere else?” Elena’s lips trembled as tears streamed down her face. “The bracelet broke… the beads fell into the dirt. I just wanted to pick them up. I was afraid you’d be mad, and then someone pushed me…” She sobbed, “Mr. and Mrs. Santoro never wanted me here. Maybe we should just go back to the clinic. At least no one bullies me there…” Caius’s gaze turned to ice. “Who pushed you? Who bullied you?” Elena glanced timidly in my direction. The implication was unmistakable. “It wasn’t me—” I had barely started when Caius cut me off, his voice cold. “I don’t want to hear your explanations.” He lifted Elena into his arms and turned to his adjutant. “Find every single bead. If even one is missing, make her keep looking.” The adjutant grabbed my arm and forced me down into the flowerbed. Ice-cold mud seeped into my sleeves. I searched in the dirt for hours, long after the sun had set, my fingernails packed with mud, until I finally found every last bead. I presented them to Caius, cupped in my hands. He took them, glanced down, and then tossed them straight into the trash. “I’ll let it go this time. From now on, stay away from Elena.” He didn’t even look at me. “She didn’t like the design anyway. I’ll make her a new one.” I looked at the beads in the trash can and smiled. If he already saw the past as a burden, then of course our memories meant nothing to him anymore.Although Mr. and Mrs. Santoro still had reservations about Elena, they were no match for Caius’s insistence. In the end, they began preparing for the engagement party. It was a large affair. I could feel the guests’ eyes on me. “Poor Beatrice. She went through so much to find him, only for him to get engaged to someone else.” “They grew up together. Everyone thought they’d be the ones to get married. Who would have thought it would turn out like this?” “If it were me, I wouldn’t have even come.” Just then, Elena, dressed in her formal military uniform, walked to the center of the hall. Caius took her hand, his gaze soft as it rested on her. “Everyone,” he began, his voice losing its usual ease, replaced by a formal restraint. “Please allow me to formally introduce—” Before he could finish, the chandeliers flickered twice and went out. The hall plunged into chaos. The scrape of chairs and panicked screams filled the darkness. Instinctively, I backed into a corner, but someone grabbed my wrist. A cloth reeking of chemicals was clamped hard over my nose and mouth. My vision swam. I struggled, kicking and clawing. Just before I blacked out, I heard a piercing scream. I don’t know how much time passed. Through the haze, I heard Elena’s furious, low voice. “Are you insane? I never told you to make a move at the engagement party!” “I told you to grab *me* and pin it on Beatrice! Who said you could bring her, too?” “You idiots! This whole thing is shot to hell—you can forget about the rest of your money!” My consciousness slowly returned. So, Elena was scheming again. Only this time, it hadn’t gone according to her plan. During the struggle, I had felt a holster at one man’s waist. These weren’t the kind of thugs Elena could have hired. What chilled me more was that the leader’s voice had sounded familiar. It sounded like one of the enemy commanders Caius himself had sent to a military prison not long ago. After a long while, the kidnappers finally made a video call. “Santoro. One is your childhood sweetheart, your fiancée for years. The other is the woman you fell in love with after losing your memory. Who do you save?” Caius still looked composed. But the moment he saw the red mark on Elena’s shoulder, his entire demeanor changed. “If any of you lay another finger on her, I will make every last one of you pay!” I closed my eyes. A tear escaped, tracing a path down my temple. There was nothing left to wait for. I had always known who Caius would choose. The kidnapper suddenly laughed. “You really think I’m going to let you choose?” The moment he spoke, someone dragged me to my feet and shoved me into an iron cage. There was another body inside, still warm, pressed against mine. With a violent splash, the stone-weighted iron cage was hurled into the reservoir. It sank fast. I immediately kicked off my combat boots and used the hard heel to smash at the lock. The current was strong, the jagged metal edges of the broken cage slicing my arms and legs. Gritting my teeth, I dragged an unconscious Elena from the cage and fought my way toward the surface. By the time I broke through the water, I was nearly spent—but I couldn’t stop. I pushed Elena onto a floating piece of debris and gently patted her face. “You have to live.” If she lived, his obsession would still have an anchor in this world. I pushed the makeshift raft toward the shore. Just then, a sharp, blinding pain shot through my knee. The next second, all strength vanished from my leg. I started to sink. I looked up at the wavering light on the surface, then slowly closed my eyes. This was fine. This was far enough. Just before I lost consciousness, I thought I saw someone reaching for me, their expression desperate. Was it just an illusion?When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was the stark white ceiling of the military hospital. The nurse bent over me, her expression relaxing. “Thank God, you’re finally awake. You were unconscious for two days.” She checked my IV. “If you didn’t wake up soon, it would have complicated your treatment. You have a lung infection, and we can’t just stop the medication.” My throat was raw. “While I was out… did anyone come to see me?” The nurse sighed. “No.” She looked at me with pity. “You poor thing. The young woman who came in with you only inhaled a little water. Her fiancé immediately arranged a private room and hasn’t left her side.” I froze for a moment, then managed a faint smile. Just then, there was a soft knock at the door. A familiar voice spoke. “Beatrice.” My head snapped up. The moment I saw the tall, straight figure in the doorway, the tears I had been holding back finally fell. “I couldn’t reach you, so I came myself.” The man walked to my bedside and pulled me into his arms. His hand gently stroked my hair. “Come on,” Julian said. “We’re going home.” He carried me onto the medevac jet. The plane climbed through the clouds, banking east toward London. I wiped the last of my tears away and looked out at the endless sky. Goodbye, Caius. I hope you and Elena are happy. We won’t be seeing each other again.

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