[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.
Every time, he rejected her, his words steady but his heart warring with itself. The same moment played on repeat—a decision that felt immovable, etched into the fabric of his subconscious. He'd turn his back to her, intending to walk back to the grand mansion looming behind him.
