That evening, the Carter mansion was brightly lit.
Sophia had decided to have dinner there.
She walked around the luxurious house with curiosity.
"So this is where you lived with her for three years?"
Alexander poured himself a glass of wine.
"Yes."
Sophia looked around the dining room.
Everything was neat.
Everything was elegant.
But strangely…
The house felt empty.
"Did she decorate this place?" Sophia asked.
Alexander glanced around.
For the first time, he realized something.
Almost everything in this house had been arranged by Emily.
The curtains.
The flowers.
Even the paintings on the wall.
He had never paid attention to these things before.
Now that Emily was gone…
The house felt unusually cold.
Sophia suddenly laughed softly.
"Well, we'll redecorate everything soon."
Alexander looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
Sophia shrugged casually.
"I don't want to live in a house that still has another woman's taste everywhere."
Alexander didn't answer.
Sophia continued happily.
"And after we get married, we can move to the new villa near the coast."
Alexander remained quiet.
For some reason, the word marriage didn't excite him the way he expected.
Instead…
He suddenly remembered the way Emily had stood at the door yesterday.
Calm.
Distant.
As if she had already erased him from her life.
Sophia noticed his silence.
"Alexander?"
"Yes?"
"You're not thinking about her, are you?"
Alexander looked at the wine glass in his hand.
After a moment, he answered calmly.
"No."
But deep down…
For the first time in three years…
Alexander Carter felt something strange.
Emily's absence had created a silence in his life that he had never noticed before.