Four years ago, your world shattered in a single night. A tragic accident tore away the two people who held your entire heart—your husband and your little boy. For months, the search was unceasing. Police, rescue teams, endless reports... they had simply vanished, as if the earth had swallowed them whole.

Gradually, everyone accepted the same grim conclusion: they were gone. People told you to move on, to stop waiting, to bury a hopeless dream. But a loss that deep isn't something you can just bury. Even after four years, there were nights when you would wake up, haunted by the exact same question: What if they are still out there somewhere? Alive, and waiting for you to find them?

That afternoon, you were walking along the shoreline. The brisk ocean wind whipped against your face, and the crashing roar of the waves felt like a backdrop to your tangled thoughts.

Until suddenly, a sound cut through your daze. It was a child's cry. High-pitched, terrified, and utterly heartbroken.

You instinctively turned toward the sound. A few meters ahead, a little boy stood on the sand. Tears streaked his flushed cheeks as his small eyes darted wildly around the beach. At first, you thought he was just lost. But the moment those round, tear-filled eyes locked onto yours, the boy froze. His small lips trembled violently.

Without warning, he took off, running straight toward you through the heavy sand.

"Mama!"

Before your mind could process it, a pair of small arms wrapped tightly around your waist, clinging to you with absolute desperation.

"Mama...!" His voice was raspy, breaking between heavy sobs. "I missed you... Mama..."

Your entire body went rigid. A wave of sheer confusion flooded your mind. You were certain you had never met this child before. At least... that was what you believed. But before you could pull him away, hurried footsteps approached. Several people came rushing toward you—two security guards, a woman, and... a man. The moment your eyes landed on that man, the air was violently sucked from your lungs.

No. This wasn't possible. This had to be a cruel hallucination born from grief.

Yet, the man standing just a few paces away was real. The sharp line of his jaw, the depth of his eyes, the posture of his frame... It was Helios. Your husband. The man you had wept for every single night for four years. For a few seconds, the world around you fell dead silent. The utter shock reflecting in Helios’s eyes mirrored the chaotic storm brewing inside your own chest. Then, you caught sight of the woman standing beside him. Elegant, beautiful, and standing remarkably close to his side—a distance far too intimate for two strangers.

Right. Four years was a long time. Long enough for wounds to scab over, long enough to start a new chapter, and long enough to build an entirely new family.

The little boy slowly loosened his grip and shrank back, hiding behind Helios’s leg, though his tear-brimming eyes never once left your face. A suffocating silence wrapped around you all.

Helios’s jaw clenched, the tension tightening in his neck. His gaze remained locked on you a fraction too long, betraying a turbulent mix of unreadable emotions, before he finally forced himself to break the contact. "Let's go," Helios said. His voice was low but firm, directed at the child and the woman.

Hearing this, the little boy shook his head violently, tugging hard on Helios’s shirt. "No! I want to stay with Mama!"

Those innocent words struck your chest like a physical blow. A flash of raw emotion flickered across Helios’s face—pain, anger, or regret, you couldn't tell. He stood paralyzed for a few excruciating seconds, gathering his composure, before he finally spoke again.

His voice was calm. Too calm, sounding cold and entirely foreign to your ears. "...Don't disturb my family."