The garden remained silent.
Only the sound of dripping rain echoed beneath the cherry trees.
Xiaoyu stood frozen.
Her eyes never left Lu Shen.
His last words continued repeating inside her mind.
"I was the one who carried you out."
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Finally, she whispered,
"You were there..."
Lu Shen nodded once.
"I arrived too late to save everyone."
The wind carried a few pale petals between them.
"I searched every room."
His voice was calm, but each word sounded heavier than the last.
"The fire had already spread."
"I heard someone crying."
His eyes slowly met hers.
"It was you."
Xiaoyu's fingers trembled.
Fragments of memories began returning.
Smoke.
Heat.
Broken glass.
Someone lifting her into strong arms.
Someone covering her eyes.
A familiar voice saying,
"Don't look back."
She suddenly stepped away.
"No..."
Her breathing became uneven.
"No, this isn't real."
Lu Shen took one step forward.
"Xiaoyu."
"Don't."
She shook her head.
"If you knew everything..."
"...why didn't you tell me?"
His silence answered before his words did.
"Because someone wanted you dead."
The sentence cut through the quiet night.
She stared at him.
"What?"
"You weren't supposed to survive that fire."
Everything around her seemed to stop.
The rain.
The wind.
Even her heartbeat.
"What are you saying?"
Lu Shen slowly reached into his coat and removed a worn leather wallet.
From inside, he took out a newspaper clipping.
Its edges had turned yellow with age.
He handed it to her.
The headline read:
BUSINESSMAN'S FAMILY PERISHES IN TRAGIC FIRE — ONLY DAUGHTER SURVIVES
Her eyes moved lower.
A small photograph accompanied the article.
She recognized the house.
She recognized her parents.
Then she noticed something else.
A teenage boy standing beside an ambulance.
His shirt stained with ash.
His arms wrapped around a little girl.
Around her.
She looked up.
"You kept this?"
"For fifteen years."
"Why?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Finally, he spoke.
"Because I promised I would never lose you again."
The words settled quietly between them.
For the first time since their marriage,
Xiaoyu saw something she had never noticed before.
Not guilt.
Not obligation.
Loneliness.
Years of it.
Before she could say anything,
Lu Shen's phone vibrated.
His assistant's name appeared on the screen.
He answered immediately.
"What happened?"
The assistant's usually calm voice sounded urgent.
"Sir..."
"We found the original hospital records."
Lu Shen's expression changed.
"And?"
"There is one problem."
"What problem?"
A long silence followed.
Then the assistant spoke.
"The patient listed as Xiaoyu's mother..."
"...was discharged alive."
Xiaoyu heard every word.
Her eyes widened.
"No..."
Lu Shen slowly lowered the phone.
"The records were altered."
"Which means..."
His assistant continued,
"If these files are genuine..."
"...your mother didn't die fifteen years ago."
The newspaper slipped from Xiaoyu's hands.
It landed quietly on the wet grass.
She couldn't breathe.
She had spent fifteen years mourning someone who might still be alive.
Far beyond the mansion gates,
inside a black sedan hidden beneath the trees,
a man closed his laptop.
He looked at the live security feed showing Xiaoyu standing beside Lu Shen.
Then he smiled.
"So they've finally learned the truth."
The woman sitting beside him calmly closed a folder marked with a silver circular symbol.
"Should we proceed?"
The man looked toward the mansion.
"No."
"Let them have tonight."
"Tomorrow..."
"...we bring her home."
Inside the garden,
Xiaoyu unknowingly reached for Lu Shen's hand.
Not because of the contract.
Not because of fear.
But because, after fifteen years of darkness,
he was the only person who had never let go.