These were not ordinary stones. Each one had been collected from outside a courthouse in a different city—twenty-six cities in total.

Shane had once promised Leanna that when she turned twenty-six, they would marry and travel to each of those cities together on their honeymoon.

Years had passed since then. By now, he had likely already married Averie Willis and completely erased her from his life.

Perhaps, that was how it was meant to be. They shouldn't cross paths again. She had already started over and built a life of her own.

At that point, Leanna's phone rang, pulling her out of her thoughts.

The call was from her supervisor, Matthew Wallace. Leanna dropped the jar into the trash and picked up. "Hello, Mr. Wallace."

She worked at an animation technology company in Avlolis, and her probation period was almost over. This was a crucial time for her career.

"Leanna, you're leading the Ethereal Recall project," Matthew said. "One of our investors, Ms. Willis, will be coming in tomorrow. I need everything to be flawless."

"Understood," Leanna replied, giving it little further thought.

Her uncle was taking care of Rhonda's medical expenses. Her parents were struggling financially, and her own living costs were supported by whatever income she could manage.

She had once had some savings. Now, with her own medical treatment added to the list, the financial pressure was growing heavier by the day.

The presentation was scheduled for the next morning, yet she had only been informed that evening. There was no alternative. She would have to prepare the slides overnight.

It looked like another late night was unavoidable.

Shane had told her to try to be asleep by eleven.

Leanna laughed dryly, bitterly. Why was he still on her mind?

The following morning, as the client would arrive soon for the project review, the conference room was already filled, everyone seated and waiting in strained silence.

Her colleague, Maddie Walsh, nervously grabbed Leanna's arm. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Yes," Leanna replied calmly.

Lowering her voice, Maddie whispered, "You know Ms. Willis is known for being ruthless, right? She's extremely demanding. People say she only ever shows kindness to the person she truly favors."

Leanna didn't think of it the same way. To her, it was admirable that someone so young had reached such a powerful position. "That just means she's serious about her work," she said.

Maddie shook her head. "You'll understand soon enough."

At that moment, Matthew walked in with two others. One of them was a tall young woman with sharp, appraising eyes.

Matthew stepped aside and gestured toward her. "Ms. Willis, these are the team members responsible for the Ethereal Recall project."

The woman's red lips curled into a faint smile. "Hello, everyone. I'm Averie Willis, CEO of L&W Group."

Leanna went completely still.

Ten years earlier, standing outside that private room, she had overheard people saying that Shane and Averie would get engaged during college and marry after graduation.

So this was the woman she had always assumed was Shane's wife.

Pulling herself back to the present, Leanna immediately lowered her face, unable to bring herself to meet Averie's eyes.

Matthew lifted his hand, signaling everyone to sit.

Averie's eyes moved calmly across the room. "Which one of you is Miss Leanna Brooks?"

Leanna remained engrossed in her thoughts.

Maddie, seated beside her, nudged her arm lightly. "Ms. Willis is talking to you."

Leanna jolted back to reality and stood up. A faint tremor crept into her voice as she spoke. "Hello. I'm Leanna."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she looked away.

Ten years ago, she had never met Averie and had no idea what she looked like.

Even if Averie had seen her back then, Leanna was certain she wouldn't recognize her now.

She was no longer Melinda; she was Leanna.

Leanna tried to anchor herself with that thought, but beneath the table, her palms were already damp with sweat.

Averie stared at her. "There are several parts of this project where the intention isn't very clear to me. If you can explain what those elements are meant to accomplish, I'll consider keeping your design."

At those words, every member of the project team turned to Leanna, their expectations silently resting on her shoulders.

Leanna nodded slightly, forcing everything else out of her mind as she slipped into a focused, professional mode.

She knew the project thoroughly and responded to each of Averie's questions with clear, well-structured explanations.

No decision was announced right away, but the atmosphere felt optimistic. In high spirits, Matthew led the team to a restaurant for lunch.

Leanna, however, couldn't fully relax.

If the project was approved, it meant she would inevitably have more interactions with Averie.

But resigning wasn't an option. She had worked too hard to reach the end of her probation period, and starting over elsewhere would mean enduring the same exhausting process all over again.

She needed the income.

Leanna let out a sigh.

After work, she met Evan as they had agreed and went with him to a nearby community health center.

Evan's car stopped in front of the building. "Go ahead and go in first, Leanna. I'll look for a parking spot."

"Okay. Text me when you're done," Leanna said as she opened the door and stepped out.

There were many people at the health center, mostly elderly patients. Leanna spent some time looking around.

A deep voice came from behind her. "Can I help you with something?"

Leanna's body went rigid at the sound. When she turned around, it felt as though time slowed to a crawl.

Shane stood there, wearing a white lab coat, six brand-new pens clipped neatly to his chest pocket, his hands in his pockets as he looked down at her.

Leanna turned her face away almost immediately.

Why did she run into Shane again?

"No, thanks," she muttered under her breath.

Keeping her head lowered, Leanna stepped forward and picked up her pace, trying to slip away as quickly as possible.

At that moment, a middle-aged woman walked in, accidentally blocking her path. "Leanna? What a coincidence. You are here to pick up medicine for your grandmother, right?"

Shane's eyes moved slowly over Leanna.

She was dressed in a white silk blouse paired with a light blue denim pencil skirt. Large hoop earrings accentuated the graceful line of her neck, and the bold shade on her lips stood out sharply against them.

He suddenly remembered her.

"You were patient No. 156 yesterday," he said.

He saw countless patients every day, but she had left an impression.

She was the only patient who had directly asked if she could see another doctor the next time.

Leanna looked up and flashed a small smile. "You've got quite the memory, Dr. Lloyd."

Remembering people by numbers, really? That level of detachment was precisely what she associated with Shane.

"Follow me," Shane said, already turning away without waiting for her response.

Left with no choice, Leanna followed him into the consultation room.

Shane hung his stethoscope around his neck, his tone casual as he asked, "Were you up late last night?"

Leanna sat down, hunching her shoulders slightly. "The dark circles have always been there."

Her probation evaluation was approaching, so she couldn't afford to slow down.

She couldn't help but wonder what had happened that caused the client to hold back from making a decision.

Shane raised his head and studied her quietly through his glasses.

He couldn't explain it, but something about Leanna felt oddly familiar.

Being alone in the room with Shane made Leanna uneasy. She fiddled with her phone, unable to stay still.

Suddenly, a gentle tune rang out.

Shane recognized the tune immediately and, without thinking, looked toward the phone on the desk, where a large alarm icon blinked on the screen.

Leanna had already brought the phone to her ear. "Hello, Mr. Wallace? Yes, there's still a proposal that hasn't been finalized. Okay, okay. I'll come over right away."

She pretended to end the call. Before she could speak, Shane placed a small medical kit in front of her with a soft thump.

He lowered his voice. "Using an alarm as an excuse to leave?"

Leanna ducked her head even lower.

Could this get any more uncomfortable?

Shane calmly opened the kit. Inside, slender medical instruments gleamed under the light, arranged with precise, clinical order.

A chill crept into Leanna's palms, damp with sweat.

Just then, several nurses walked in together, laughing and chatting.

"Oh my God, there's a really handsome guy outside," one of them said excitedly. "Like, insanely handsome."

"Seriously? Where? Did you get his contact information?" another asked.

"No. He said he came here with his girlfriend."

Leanna hardly noticed their talk about the so-called handsome man. Her thoughts were already spiraling, focused solely on finding a way to escape.

At that moment, Evan walked in with an easy smile, heading straight toward her.

"Hey, Leanna, are you okay?" he asked, standing by her side.

Nearby, the nurses exchanged whispers among one another.

"That's him. So the handsome guy really has a girlfriend. I'm officially heartbroken."

Shane glanced at Evan before he could stop himself.

"I'm fine," Leanna blurted in reply. "I just remembered something I need to handle at home. Let's go."

She reached out, grabbed Evan's arm, and pulled him toward the door.

She couldn't stand being in the same space as Shane for even a second longer.

Evan glanced briefly back at Shane before following Leanna outside.

The moment they stepped out of the community health center, Leanna sighed in relief.

"Are you okay?" Evan asked, lifting his arm and lightly pressing the back of his hand against her forehead.

She stiffened for a second, and then pulled his arm down and strode straight toward the parking lot.

"I'm okay. Let's leave; dinner's on me," she said.

Evan scuttled after her, his tone apologetic and slightly awkward. "Sorry about earlier, Leanna. I didn't want to give my number to strangers; that's why I told them you were my girlfriend."

"It's alright," Leanna blurted, barely processing his words. The only thing she cared about was leaving that place as quickly as possible, putting as much distance as she could between herself and Shane.

Soon after that, she received a wedding invitation from a former high school classmate.

Back in high school, she had created an email account she hardly used anymore, and the invitation was sitting in its inbox.

Logging into an old social media account she hadn't accessed in years, she found it filled with private messages from Lanny.

"Hey, why aren't you responding? Don't tell me you actually died on an operating table while getting cosmetic surgery."

"Melinda, if you're seeing this, please say something. Everyone's so worried about you."

Leanna read through all the messages, one after another, until she reached the most recent one.

"I'm getting married, Melinda. Don't forget to come to the wedding."

The invitation was, without question, a dilemma.

Lanny had always been one of the genuinely kind people in their class. He had never openly defended her, but whenever she was bullied, he had quietly reported it to a teacher and stopped things from escalating.

Not going would be an unfair thing to do.

But if she did go, what kind of ridicule would she face this time?

She spent the night restless, tossing and turning, before finally sending a message to her friend living overseas. "What do you think about me going to Lanny's wedding?"

Her friend replied almost immediately, "When is the wedding? Let me go with you."

"It's next weekend. But concentrate on your work; I'll be fine on my own."

Just a day before Lanny's wedding, there was a get-together event at Time & Taste, a restaurant located in the Lakeside Building.

Coincidentally, Leanna went by invitation to the same restaurant—her former part-time workplace—to join a tasting event organized by their newly appointed head chef.

By seven in the evening, most of the attendees were already there. Even Shane had arrived early for a change.

Former classmates joked casually around him. "Dr. Lloyd, when are you going back to take over the family business?"

Another person laughed and added, "Obviously after he marries Averie. That's the plan, right?"

Shane didn't touch the glass in front of him. He was worried that an emergency might come up at either the community health center or the hospital, and he stayed mentally prepared to leave at any second.

The groom-to-be, Lanny, walked onto the small stage in the middle of the room with a microphone. "Is everyone here now? If so, I'll give a short speech."

"Not yet!" someone shouted from the crowd. "Beth and Melinda still aren't here!"

"Melinda? Who's that?"

"You know, the girl with all the freckles."

"Oh, stop it. Melinda's been dead for years. What is this, a ghost story?"

At those words, Shane's water glass tipped over. Water splashed across the table, wetting the cuff of his white shirt.

At once, the room plunged into a suffocating silence.

Laughter vanished on the spot, with no one daring to make a sound.

Shane reached for a napkin and hurriedly dabbed at the water that had splashed near his cufflink.

Ten years earlier—on his first birthday after Melinda disappeared without so much as a goodbye—he had received that very pair of cufflinks.

They had no brand name and weren't worth even a fraction of the cheapest accessory he owned.

He had tried calling Melinda then, but her number was already out of service.

She had simply erased herself from his life, leaving no trace behind.

For an entire decade after that, Shane heard no word from her.

The cufflinks had faded with time, but he never understood why he couldn't bring himself to throw them away.

As Shane was about to say something, Jeff reached out and gave his shoulder a light pat. "Melinda's dead?"

"Yeah," someone answered. "She went overseas after high school. A few years back, there was that plane crash in Buevine. They recovered a violin from the wreckage, and her name was on it. It had to belong to her."

"We don't see these kinds of coincidences every day," another said.

Shane felt his breath hitch.

The private room became so quiet it seemed every inhale and exhale was audible.

Every eye settled on Shane.

His face remained composed, but his fingers trembled uncontrollably.

Jeff lifted his glass, attempting to break the tension. "Alright, enough of that. Let's drink."

For the next hour or so, Shane stayed tucked away at one side of the round table, emptying one glass after another.

The chatter around him dissolved into a dull haze. But inside his head, the sound of a violin played on repeat.

It was obvious to anyone watching that something was wrong with Shane.

Small groups of former classmates leaned together, whispering under their breath.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed, bringing up Melinda in front of Shane?"

"Didn't you hear? She used to go after Shane."

"That wasn't 'going after' him. It was just pathetic. Watch how you talk."

"She really had the nerve. Shane's family already chose his future wife—Averie from the Willis family."

"And look at Melinda. So rundown. Depending on her uncle, yet she actually thought she belonged among high society."

Up on the third-floor open-air terrace, Leanna was deep in conversation with her former boss from the part-time job she'd worked ten years earlier.

She had saved every bit she could from that job to buy the violin, a violin she barely dared touch herself. And yet, to Shane, it had never meant anything at all.

The owner slid a worn black wallet across the counter toward her. "Here. This should be yours. Check and see if anything's missing."

He had already gone through it. Inside were a couple of old photo booth strips from her school years and a few bills folded neatly together.

Leanna accepted the wallet with both hands and went still for a brief second.

She remembered buying it back when she was still in school. Not long after, it had vanished, and no matter how much she searched, she couldn't find it. She never imagined she'd left it behind at the restaurant where she used to work part-time.

She thanked him sincerely and took the wallet with her.

By nine o'clock, Leanna was heading downstairs to leave when a figure suddenly emerged from the corner near the stairwell.

Startled, she stepped back on instinct, only to bump straight into him.

Two identical wallets landed on the floor.

Before she could crouch down, the man bent first, picked up the wallet on the left, and held it out to her.

She lifted her head and met Shane's eyes. They were hazy, dulled by alcohol, and the sharp scent of liquor clung to him.

"Thank you," she said, quickly taking the wallet from his hand.

It hadn't even been that long, yet somehow she had been running into Shane almost every day.

Back when they were together, she hadn't even seen him this often.

Shane seemed completely unaware of her presence. He didn't even show any sign of recognition.

He slipped the wallet on the right into the pocket of his suit jacket and walked off in a hurry. His long strides carried him down the corridor, his figure lengthening into a solitary shadow against the empty hallway.

By the time the sound of his footsteps disappeared, Leanna was still standing there, staring after him, the faint smell of alcohol lingering in the air.

Shane was usually careful and controlled. He rarely drank to excess.

Was anything wrong with him?

When she realized she had started worrying about him again, Leanna gave her head a small shake, pushing the thought aside.

After returning home, she finished getting ready for bed and turned in early.

A knock sounded at the door. Rhonda walked in and casually tossed the wallet onto Leanna's bed. "Melinda, don't leave your wallet by the door."

"Alright, Grandma," Leanna replied, sitting up as she reached for it.

A business card fell out.

Printed on it was "Shane Lloyd, Chief of Breast Surgery."