Weeks passed. Then days blurred into weeks again.
And still nothing.
No one had heard from Eliora.
Not Alex.
Not Ann.
Not even her mother.
It was as if she had vanished from the world she once belonged to.
Eliora had made a decision in the quiet aftermath of heartbreak: one month of disappearance. One month away from faces, voices, memories away from Alex. She believed that time, if left alone to do its work, would soften the ache, would dull the sharpness of loving someone who had wounded her without even trying.
But time was cruel.
Instead of healing her, it stretched her pain thinner and wider until it filled every breath she took.
She cried until her eyes burned and her chest felt raw. Some nights, the tears came silently; other nights, they tore out of her in broken sobs that left her gasping. Food lost its taste. Meals were forgotten. Her body weakened as her heart did, and slowly, noticeably, she began to lose weight not because she wanted to, but because sadness had stolen her appetite.
Sleep became a stranger.
She spent long nights staring into the dark, replaying memories she wished she could erase. Alex's laughter. The way he said her name. The warmth of moments that once felt eternal. Everything about them had been too beautiful, too perfect almost unreal. And now, those memories mocked her, whispering that happiness like that was never meant to last.
Maybe it was all too good to be true, she thought.
Eventually, her tears turned into resolve. A painful, trembling kind of strength. She told herself that if Alex truly wanted her in his world fully, honestly he would have been open with her. No secrets. No shadows. No half truths that left her questioning her worth.
So she chose solitude.
Not because she was strong
but because staying had become unbearable.
Alex, on the other hand, was unraveling.
He searched everywhere.
Every street, every familiar place, every corner of Canada that held even the slightest possibility of leading him to her. He made calls until his phone battery died, sent messages he knew she wasn't reading, and asked questions that led nowhere. The silence from Eliora was louder than any argument they had ever had.
Guilt clung to him like a second skin.
When his own efforts failed, desperation took over. He sent his boys people he trusted with his life ordering them to find her at all costs. Days passed with no success, until one of them had an idea: her number.
Tracking it wasn't easy, but eventually, they did.
The result shocked them all.
Eliora wasn't in any big city. She wasn't hiding somewhere luxurious or dramatic. She was in a small, quiet village far from noise, far from familiarity staying in a modest hotel that barely looked like a place meant for long stays. Nothing fancy. Nothing comforting.
Just a roof. And silence.
There, Eliora lived between tears and stillness. Most of her days were spent crying, locked away in her room where the walls bore silent witness to her heartbreak. But sometimes when the pain became too heavy she stepped outside and found herself drawn to a quiet space where little children played.
They didn't know her story.
They didn't know her pain.
They only knew how to smile.
Their laughter filled the air, soft and innocent, and for brief moments, Eliora felt something she hadn't felt in weeks peace. Sitting there, watching them, she felt invisible and safe, as if the world wasn't asking anything of her. No explanations. No strength. Just existence.
Yet even in those quiet moments, Alex's name lingered in her heart like an echo she couldn't silence.
And while Eliora tried to disappear from love, love was already on its way closing in on the village, on the small hotel, on the girl who believed she had to be alone to survive.
The moment Alex heard her location, he didn't hesitate.
He grabbed his keys and drove—
fast, reckless, desperate.
The road stretched endlessly beneath his tires, the night air heavy with regret. Every mile felt like punishment for the silence he had allowed to grow between them. His hands trembled on the steering wheel as one thought repeated in his mind like a curse:
I should have told her. I should have been honest.
When he finally reached the small village, it felt unreal too quiet, too small to be hiding the woman who owned his heart. The hotel stood there modest and worn, nothing like the life he knew she deserved.
Alex stepped out of the car slowly, his chest tight.
Then he saw her.
Eliora stood outside, frozen mid-step, as if the world had paused just for them.
"Eliora!" he called out, his voice breaking the silence.
Her heart stopped.
She turned.
And suddenly, there he was.
Alex.
Standing in front of her like a vision she had cried herself to sleep imagining. For a moment, she thought she was hallucinating another cruel trick of her longing. Her breath caught in her throat, her knees almost giving way beneath her.
No… this can't be real.
Shock ripped through her to the core.
She looked away instantly, her chest tightening as she tried to walk past him, pretending she hadn't seen him at all.
But Alex wouldn't let go.
He stepped in front of her, his voice softer now, desperate.
"Please… don't do this. Don't ignore me."
That was when she broke.
Eliora cried like never before raw, uncontrollable sobs that shook her entire body. It was as if every tear she had held back for weeks came pouring out all at once. She covered her face, collapsing into herself, as though everything she had built to survive was crumbling right there.
Alex's heart shattered at the sight.
He moved closer, guilt flooding his veins.
"This is my fault," he said hoarsely. "All of it. I should have told you. I should have been open with you. I never meant to hurt you."
He blamed himself for every tear, every sleepless night, every pound she had lost. If only he had spoken if only he had trusted her with the truth.
Eliora lifted her face slowly, tears streaming down her cheeks, her eyes red and swollen with pain. Her voice trembled as she finally asked the question that had haunted her every single night.
"Alex…"
She swallowed hard.
"What were you talking about that night?"
Her voice cracked completely.
Alex froze for a second, stunned then realization hit him like lightning.
That's it? That's what broke her?
He stepped closer, his tone urgent, almost disbelief mixed with regret.
"I was only telling my men to keep an eye on Emilia," he said. "She was planning something… something bigger. Something dangerous. That was all."
Silence fell between them.
Eliora stared at him, her tears slowing not stopping but changing. Confusion replaced pain as the weight of his words sank in. Her lips parted slightly, her heart pounding.
That was it?
All the suffering.
All the nights of tears.
All the loneliness.
Over the silliest misunderstanding.
Her knees felt weak as the truth crushed her chest. She had walked away from everything she loved without knowing the whole story. And Alex he had lost her because he hadn't explained something so simple.
They stood there, broken and exposed, realizing how close love had come to being lost forever.
And in that quiet village, beneath the weight of unshed words and fragile hearts, fate gave them a second chance one neither of them knew how to survive without.