A few weeks passed, and everything slowly returned to normal.
Daniel managed to settle the Helix crisis, presenting undeniable proof that the system failure had been a sabotage. The lawsuit was withdrawn, the media lost interest, and soon the headlines moved on to other scandals.
He told Luccianho to continue to search who had kill his employee.
The name Daniel Ooman was once again associated with brilliance, power, and untouchable success.
Jade accompanied Gabriel to the airport.
She tried her best not to cry, but her eyes were glossy as she hugged him tightly.
"Don't forget me," she murmured.
"As if I could," Gabriel laughed, pinching her cheek. "You're stuck with me forever."
She forced a smile as she watched him disappear through the gate.
Her life was changing fast.
With the sudden media attention and her flawless work during Riguel's event, Jade's name started circulating among high society. Clients began contacting her, and soon she officially opened her own event planning agency.
She was no longer just Daniel Ooman's fiancée.
She was Jade Lee, the rising event queen.
She also grew closer to Riguel.
Their friendship became natural, warm, almost comforting.
And Daniel…
She was finally sure of her feelings.
She had fallen for him.
For his quiet kindness, his hidden warmth, his possessive teasing, his lonely shadows.
But reality always came back to her.
Their marriage was a contract. When they will get married this will end.
Twelve months.
Just twelve months.
After that, everything would end.
And for the first time, that thought scared her.
.
.
.
Every night, Daniel kept finding Jade on the balcony.
It was becoming frequent.
Too frequent.
Sometimes she stood there, staring at the city lights, her expression distant.
Other times, she leaned on the railing as if listening to something only she could hear.
When he asked her what she was doing, she always frowned.
"I… don't remember how I got here."
At first, he thought she was joking.
But her eyes were always sincere.
And that made everything worse.
.
.
One night, he woke up with an inexplicable unease.
He walked to the balcony—
And froze.
Jade was climbing onto the railing.
Trying to jump.
"Jade!"
He ran and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back violently into his arms.
She was limp.
Her eyes were closed.
She was sleeping.
"Damn it…" he muttered.
Sleepwalking? he thought.
He shook her gently.
"Jade. Wake up."
She stirred, blinking slowly, confused.
"Daniel…? What are you doing here?"
He stared at her, his jaw clenched.
"What were you doing here?" he asked quietly.
She looked at the railing, then at him, confused.
"I… I don't know. It's like… someone was calling me."
His blood ran cold.
"If I wasn't here," he said slowly, "you would be dead right now."
Her breath hitched.
She hugged him suddenly, tightly, her hands trembling.
"Daniel…"
She hesitated, then lifted her gaze to him.
"I need to know about the curse," she whispered.
"Please. Everything happening to me… I think it's connected to you."
She swallowed, then added with forced sarcasm, trying to hide her fear:
"Remember, I can't tell anyone. We have a contract, after all."
Daniel smiled .
"You wanted to end the contract just to know about my curse?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Yes."
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then his grip on her hand tightened.
His expression changed—serious, heavy, as if he had finally reached a decision.
"Then follow me."
.
.
.
Daniel led her to the mysterious black door. As they stepped inside, the place exuded an almost ritualistic air—solemn yet strangely captivating. Towering shelves, crammed with ancient leather-bound books, seemed to whisper forgotten secrets. The scent of incense mingled with the musty smell of old pages, and scattered candles cast flickering shadows across the walls, making the room feel alive in its own way.
Jade suddenly remembered the first time she had seen this black door. A strange shiver had run through her the moment her eyes fell on it, as if something alive was watching her. When she had touched the handle, a bizarre sensation had coursed through her—a mix of dizziness, fear, and fascination.
Before she could even react, the world around her had vanished. She had fainted, carried away by an invisible force. And there, in that suspended space between consciousness and dream, a name had echoed in her mind with a chilling intensity, it was when she touched that door that she heard the name vesperis.
Jade was fascinated, she looked around.
"This is the door that you strictly said to anyone to enter here" she said
"Yes" Daniel replied.
Daniel removed many notebooks old as if he had it when he was a child.
"What's this?" Jade wondered.
Daniel stood silent for a moment and added.
"I have it since I was a child and I still continue to write on other notebooks"
Jade was looking on those notebooks wondering.
"Who can keep notebooks for so long" she thought