People had gathered outside the small house at the edge of town. A crowd pressed behind yellow police tape, whispering nervously to each other. Some held phones and cameras, trying to record everything. Reporters pushed forward, notebooks and microphones ready, trying to catch every detail.Police officers stood near the tape, flashlights in hand. The front door of the house had been broken in, and a window was shattered. Inside, furniture lay overturned, and belongings were scattered across the floor. Everyone could see the mess, but no one dared go closer.“This… this is terrible,” a man whispered to his companion. “A child… and the mother… just like that.”The lead officer, a tall man with a serious expression, tried to calm the crowd. “Please step back! Give us space to work,” he said firmly. But the crowd barely moved. Fear and curiosity held them in place.Reporters pressed closer. “What happened here?” one asked. “Do you have any leads?”The officer shook his head. “We are stil

Margret rushed out of the car the second the ambulance stopped. Her heart pounded so loudly she could barely hear anything else. The nurses were already pulling out the stretcher, and she ran after them, her legs shaking as she followed Daniel’s body, covered in blood, into the hospital.She had never seen that much blood in her life. It soaked his shirt, his hands, even the white cloth on the stretcher. She kept whispering, “Please hold on, Daniel… please don’t leave…”But the nurses didn’t slow down. They pushed him straight into the emergency room, and before Margret could follow, the door closed in her face.“Ma, you can’t go inside,” a nurse said gently. “Please wait out here.”Margret nodded, though her mind wasn’t fully working. She felt dizzy. She felt lost. She sat down on one of the plastic chairs in the waiting area. Her hands trembled nonstop. Everything inside her felt cold.Minutes passed.Or maybe hours.She couldn’t tell.Her eyes stayed locked on the emergency room d

The general sat down properly in the chair across from Karvel and adjusted his uniform as if preparing for something serious. His face looked calm, but his eyes held a strange determination.Karvel waited, wondering what kind of urgent business had brought such a powerful man into his office without warning.Finally, the general folded his hands on the table.“The business I have with you,” he said slowly, “is simple. I want you to marry my daughter.”Silence filled the room.Karvel blinked at him, thinking he had misheard.“Sorry… what did you say?”“You heard me clearly,” the general replied. “I want you to marry my daughter.”Karvel stared at him for a full second before bursting into a loud, shocked laugh. He leaned back in his seat, almost unable to breathe from how ridiculous the statement sounded.“Are you kidding me right now?” Karvel asked, wiping a hand across his face. “You dragged me out of my house, rushed me here, and brought soldiers to my office… for this?”“I am not j

Elena leaned her head on Karvel’s shoulder, trying to steady her breathing. She was slowly calming down after everything that happened.Then suddenly, her phone started ringing again.Elena stiffened. She didn’t move. She didn’t even look at the screen. Instead, she pressed the phone deeper into her pocket as if the sound itself was hurting her.Karvel glanced at her. “Why don’t you want to pick it?”Elena shook her head. “I don’t know. I just… don’t want to.”“You can’t keep ignoring your phone,” Karvel said gently. “It might be something important.”She didn’t answer.The phone rang again, this time longer and louder, like whoever was calling refused to give up.“Elena,” Karvel said softly, “come on… just check who it is.”She hesitated, then slowly pulled the phone out. The moment she saw the name on the screen, her eyes widened.“It’s… my sister,” she whispered, confused. “Liza never calls me unless it’s serious.”Karvel nodded. “Then pick it. It might be something urgent.”Elena

Karvel gently laid Elena on the bed. She had cried so much that her body looked weak and exhausted. Her eyes were already half-closed, and she kept sniffing softly. He pulled a blanket over her and brushed her hair away from her face.“Go to sleep,” he whispered. “Rest. Your mind needs it.”Elena didn’t reply. She simply curled deeper into the blanket, letting her tired eyes finally close. Her breathing slowly became calm and steady.Karvel sat beside her for a moment, watching her sleep. He knew she was breaking inside. So much had happened in just one day. Too much for one heart to carry.He leaned close to her ear and began humming a soft tune—something gentle, something comforting. It was a song his mother used to sing to him whenever he had nightmares as a child. He didn’t know if Elena could hear him, but he hoped she felt the calmness of it.Just then, his phone rang.The sound cut through the quiet room, and Karvel quickly picked it up before it could wake Elena. He checked th