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This particular week was exhausting to the Lagdameo heir. He was so preoccupied with business as he intended to be as he was trying to avoid a moment where he would find himself being conflicted about his predicament about his wife. Ever since Collet's incident, every day that passed by was like a ball of a string being rolled on, rolling him away farther and farther from his wife. At the moment, the only thing that was keeping them connected was their marriage which he was sure, he was the only one holding on to. Although it hurts, he was aware that Xhemin had no more intention of keeping her vows to him and he wondered by then if it was right for him to fight for them both or would it be better if he too will just let go. Was his love for her becoming an utter burden to his wife?

​​

Too many questions were raging into him.

Was it still right for him to chase her or should he just let go?

Are they fated for each other or he was just too stubborn to accept the fact so he built a bridge to chase her after fate had long separated them?

Was Xhemin really meant for him or was she meant for somebody else.

Somebody else that would probably make her happy than he can ever give her.

Was he, after all, just a selfish obsessive husband who cannot move on?

All his days were just filled with nothing but these questions that he purposely made himself too busy to even think of it again.

"Dee?" Her sister called his attention one afternoon past six where all the employees started going home.

Darryl dragged his eyes to the door and saw Dian. He immediately straightened himself up and cued for her to come in.

"Where were you last night? I went to your apartment hoping I could see you," Dian asked. She was about to head back to the South because she had stayed in the capital long enough to make a bulk of documents that needed her attention back in the forest mansion. Dr. Cyan called her earlier to check when she's coming back because they had new shipments that needed her signature.

Darryl only sighed inwardly and thought that it would be better if Dian would not know where he had been going to after office hours. His sister had done so much for him already and the last thing he ever wanted them to feel was to worry about him further.

"Just went out to get some fresh air," Darryl replied, attempting to avoid the question.

"In the South?" Dian raised a brow at him. "I know that your private plane had been flying every day to the South after office hours and comes back in the capital at dawn time,"

Darryl didn't answer anymore as Dian was right. Ever since he knew that Xhemin took leave and stayed in the South to heal, he secretly went there every night to be in the same place as her.

Dian just sighed with Darryl's silence. She went forward and gave him some documents, "I just need your signatures here. Also, I'm leaving for the South tonight, can I perhaps join you on your private plane?"

Darryl just nodded his head and checked the documents Dian had before he affixed his signatures.

***

12 AM. Hampshire

Almost the same time every night, Darryl stood in a certain tree just a few meters from the gate of Richmond Ranch.

His car was parked somewhere and his private plane was waiting for him at the airport. He was there for a few hours already with his business suit as he watched the noises and lights of Richmond ranch fade through the night. Xhemin's room, however, was still lit, and even though he cannot see what she had been doing inside, he was sure however she was thinking of their son. How many nights more will her wife mourn for him? The capture of his murderer, their son's accidents became fresh again and the wounds they thought had gone away found its way back to the surface with a fresh cut. His wife probably had the deepest cut and apart from everyone, she was the most suffering of all this.

***

Midnight and Xhemin still couldn't sleep. She had said a thousand prayers for Winter already and yet her exhaustion never wore off. She wanted to doze off and forget the hurt for a little while yet her body just couldn't allow her to be at peace. She needed some warmth, some comfort, something that she didn't know where to get from. Intending to finally sleep, she turned off the lights in her room and curved up in her bed. The whole Richmond ranch was already asleep, even the birds and pigeons were and aside from the insects that were singing lullabies outside, she was sure she was the only one awake at that hour of the night.

Surprisingly, Xhemin saw some lights flickering in her veranda as if something was outside. The thing is, she was sure the lights came from a car but she didn't hear any engine roaring outside. Does she perhaps have a mysterious visitor tonight?

Xhemin climbed down her bed with her long white nightgown. She paced the dark room slowly toward her veranda. Good thing she didn't close it and all she had to do was shoved off the long curtains out of the way to see things outside. As she did, all she saw was the dark view of every tree, bushes, and the mountains that all scattered in her view from the veranda. She also saw some small flickering lights from the right side of her view, giving her a small glimpse of the town down the hill that stretched far across the end of the Loch, the only thing that was separating the town and the loch as a vast forest land the Dugmoch's owned.

***

Then from the view of the town, she dragged her eyes back to the Richmond ranch, the veranda and the street below just outside their ranch's gate. Her eyes traced the long street until she found someone's silhouette standing in the middle. It was a man's silhouette, someone she very intimately knew.

"Huzey," Xhemin whispered and as the cold breeze blew right through her face, she knew she wasn't dreaming.