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3. PAST

Caelan stood in the bookstore, pretending to focus on the documents his assistant had handed him, but his thoughts were elsewhere. The buzz of the city outside, the muffled conversations of other customers—it all faded into the background. His mind was always racing, always processing, never at rest. But then, a sound broke through, something so delicate yet so powerful that it shattered his concentration in an instant—a giggle, light and full of life.

His head snapped up, and for a moment, he was lost in time. His breath hitched as his eyes found the source of that sound. She stood across the room, her laughter echoing the joy of a life unburdened by the weight of centuries. But to Caelan, it wasn’t just a sound; it was a memory. The memory of a laugh he hadn’t heard in over a thousand years. The memory of someone he had loved more than life itself.

His chest tightened painfully, and his vision swam as the flashbacks hit him like a tidal wave. He saw her face, her smile, the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed. He could almost feel her presence, as real as it had been all those years ago. It was like a cruel trick, a reminder of everything he had lost.

Caelan gasped, a sharp, ragged breath that he couldn’t control. His hands trembled, and the papers he had been holding slipped through his fingers, scattering across the floor. His assistant’s voice called out to him, filled with confusion and worry, but he couldn’t respond. He couldn’t stay there, not for another second.

With a desperate need to escape, he turned on his heel and rushed out of the store, pushing through the door and into the cold, snowy street. The snowflakes fell around him, dusting his dark hair and shoulders, but he barely noticed. He scanned the street, his heart pounding in his chest, searching frantically for her—for the girl whose laugh had opened a wound he thought had long since healed.

But she was gone. There was no trace of her, as if she had simply disappeared into the cold air. Caelan’s heart sank, the painful hope that had flared up inside him extinguished just as quickly. He stood there, feeling the crushing weight of his loneliness, of the centuries of loss that had been his constant companion.

Tears welled up in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He never cried. He had learned long ago that tears solved nothing, that they were a luxury he couldn’t afford. But it didn’t stop the pain from building in his chest, threatening to choke him. His breath came out in harsh, visible puffs, the only sign of the storm raging inside him.

Closing his eyes, Caelan tried to find his center, to regain control. He told himself to breathe, to calm down, but it was no use. The memories wouldn’t stop. The laughter wouldn’t stop echoing in his mind. He had lived so long, seen so much, but this pain was the one thing that time could never dull.

Standing there in the falling snow, Caelan felt more alone than he had in a long time. The world around him seemed distant, as if he were trapped in a moment that would never end. All he could do was wait for the pain to subside, for the memories to fade back into the recesses of his mind, where he had tried so hard to bury them.

But even as he stood there, trying to calm his nerves, he knew that some wounds never truly healed. They were always there, just beneath the surface, waiting for the smallest thing to bring them back to life. And in that moment, Caelan was reminded that no matter how long he lived, no matter how much he tried to forget, the past would always find a way to haunt him.

Caelan shook his head, trying to clear the fog of memories that had overwhelmed him. He needed to regain control, to push the past back where it belonged. Taking a deep breath, he stepped back inside the bookstore, his face a mask of calm, though inside, the storm still raged.

His assistant approached him, concern evident in their eyes, but before they could speak, Caelan raised a hand, cutting them off. "Take the rest of the day off," he said, his voice steady but distant. The assistant hesitated, clearly reluctant to leave him alone, but eventually nodded and left.

As Caelan walked through the familiar aisles, he headed toward his favorite corner of the store, where he often found solace among the old, weathered books. But his mind was still spinning, lost in the echoes of a past he couldn’t escape. His footsteps were heavy, his thoughts even heavier, so much so that he didn’t notice the person standing in his path until it was too late.

He collided with her—Aleena—so suddenly that it jolted him out of his thoughts. He froze, his breath catching in his throat as he looked down at her. For a moment, it was as if time itself had stopped. Her face, her features, they were eerily familiar, so much like his lost lover that he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was as if the universe had decided to play a cruel joke on him, bringing the past back to life in the most unexpected way.

Caelan stood there, stunned, unable to move or speak, his mind struggling to make sense of what was happening. But Aleena, oblivious to the turmoil inside him, frowned up at him in confusion. She waved her hand in front of his face, trying to snap him out of whatever trance he was in, but he didn’t respond. He was too far gone, lost in a world of memories that had come crashing down on him all over again.

Frustrated, Aleena glanced around and then grabbed a random book from the nearby shelf. Without a second thought, she stretched out her hand, preparing to strike him across the face, hoping the sharp impact would bring him back to reality. But just as she was about to make contact, her brother Jace appeared, his eyes wide with alarm.

Jace’s heart pounded in his chest as he rushed over, his hands trembling as he grabbed Aleena by the arm and pulled her back. "Aleena, stop!" he whispered urgently, his voice barely more than a gasp. The look in his eyes was a mix of fear and desperation, as if he knew something she didn’t. He had seen the look on Caelan’s face, the haunted expression that told him this wasn’t just a random stranger—they were dealing with something far more dangerous and fragile.

Aleena, confused and a little shaken by her brother’s reaction, let the book fall to the floor. She turned to Jace, her brow furrowed in bewilderment, but she didn’t resist as he dragged her away from Caelan. "What’s wrong with you?" she hissed, but Jace didn’t answer. His focus was on Caelan, who still hadn’t moved, his eyes distant, as if he were seeing something only he could understand.

Caelan finally blinked, the world around him coming back into focus. He realized what had almost happened, how close he had come to breaking down completely in front of strangers. The ache in his chest was almost unbearable, but he swallowed it down, forcing himself to breathe, to stay calm.

He watched as Jace hurried Aleena away, his own hands still trembling slightly. The sight of her, the resemblance—it was too much. Caelan closed his eyes for a moment, gathering what was left of his shattered composure. He couldn’t afford to fall apart now. Not here, not in front of people who had no idea what he was going through.

When he opened his eyes again, the store felt colder, emptier. The comfort he usually found here was gone, replaced by a hollow sense of loss. He exhaled slowly, the breath misting in the air as if to remind him that, despite everything, he was still here, still alive.

But the pain remained, gnawing at him like a wound that refused to heal. And as Caelan stood there, under the warm lights of the bookstore, he couldn’t help but feel like a man out of time, haunted by a past that would never let him go.

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