Nathaniel sat still, watching Zane, lost in coloring. Emotions swelled in his chest.
Zane had completely forgotten about Nora, his birth mother. Nora had already become a shadow, her presence fading like mist at dawn. To him, Zara was his mother.
It was good, but Nathaniel still felt a tug in his heart. It seemed as if Nora's existence in their lives had been receding. Even in his mind, Nora had stopped appearing often.
Once, Nora had been everywhere—in his dreams, in the corners of his mind, in the hollow ache of his chest. He had lived inside her memory, clinging to the moments he had shared with her. He had spent hours staring at her photograph, drifting into a state of despair.
But now… things had changed.
Zara had crept into the cracks of his heart, breaking down the walls he had built around Nora's memory. Where Nora's face once lingered, now Zara's smile appeared. Where her words once played in his mind, Zara's laughter echoed.
