The chapel doors opened, and light flooded in, warm and golden.
Mina stepped forward, the air trembling around her as if the world itself was holding its breath. Her gown glowed under the sunlight, every diamond alive — ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine stars stitched into silk.
Aaron stood waiting at the altar. His heart ached at the sight of her, his hand tightening over the ring box in his pocket. For a moment, the sounds around him faded — and memory came rushing in.
Flashback — The Club.
A dark room. Loud bass. Cigarette smoke curling under dim lights. He'd been sitting alone at a table, eyes lost in a glass of whiskey, when she appeared — a cleaner in a simple uniform, hair tied back, eyes lowered as she wiped down the tables no one cared about.
Something about her had stilled him. She wasn't looking for attention; she was just… there. Quiet. Beautiful in the kind of way that didn't need to be seen to be felt.
When she lifted her eyes and met his for a heartbeat — just one — he felt something shift. He didn't know it then, but that moment was the beginning of the rest of his life.
Flashback — The War.
The rain. The blood. Her voice screaming his name. The night he thought he'd lost her — and the night he realized he couldn't live without her.
Flashback — The Hospital.
Her hand in his after everything broke. His tears falling on her palm as he whispered, I'll do better. Just stay.
And now — this.
The girl who used to wipe tables in the dark was walking toward him in diamonds and sunlight, about to become his wife.
Aaron's throat burned. When Mina reached him, she smiled softly. "You look like you're trying not to cry."
He gave a shaky laugh. "You have no idea how many lives I had to live before I found this one."
They held hands through the vows, through the laughter and the tears. And when it was time for the rings, Aaron opened the small box.
The last diamond gleamed inside, small and perfect.
"You once asked me why not ten thousand," he said quietly. "It's because the last one wasn't meant for a dress. It was meant for this."
He slipped the ring on her finger. Inside, engraved in silver, were the words: Forever yours.
Mina swallowed hard, slipping his band onto his hand — black titanium brushed with gold. Inside his, she'd engraved: For every lifetime after this one.
Their eyes met — full of years, memories, and everything they had rebuilt.
"I fell for you before I knew your name," Aaron whispered.
Mina smiled through her tears. "And I loved you before you deserved it."
He kissed her then — slow, trembling, infinite — as Ellie's tiny laughter echoed from her Rolls-Royce carriage down the aisle, scattering rose petals in the air like blessings.
Outside, the sun broke through the clouds, warm and bright over the chapel steps. Mina rested her head on Aaron's shoulder as they walked out together, husband and wife.
The ghosts of their parents were somewhere in the wind — not haunting, but smiling. Watching.
Aaron looked down at her ring, glinting like captured light. "Forever yours," he whispered.
Mina smiled up at him. "And for every lifetime after this one."
And as the Rolls-Royce carried them away through the glitter of petals, the man who once lived in darkness finally understood:
Love didn't save him.
She did.