章 184: Daniel’s Dream 1    

[DANIEL]

Daniel had a dream once.

A distant, unreachable dream—a wisp of a memory that lingered in the quiet hours of the night, taunting him with its bittersweet clarity

It was the kind of dream that never truly faded, no matter how much he tried to bury it beneath the harshness of reality.

And always, the dream led him back there. Back to the Ashford Vacation Home. Back to the study session that had taken place one winter, where everything had unraveled in ways he couldn't fully explain.

In this dream, the scene always began the same. Lily Ashford, radiant in the golden light of the garden, called him out to the garden. She had confessed to him.

But he never said yes to her.