CHAPTER 431: CHAPTER 431 EVERYTHING WILL GET BETTER WITH TIME

One and a half years later...

A luxurious black Mercedes pulled up smoothly in front of the hospital entrance. The polished metal glinted under the morning sun. The door opened, and a slender leg stepped out, followed by the graceful figure of a woman dressed in a crisp white shirt tucked into tailored black trousers. Over it, she wore a long beige trench coat that swayed with her every step. Her heels clicked softly against the marble floor as she walked, effortlessly balancing three shopping bags in her arms.

Her hair flowed freely, dark and glossy, gently brushing her back. Her lips, soft and naturally pink, had no trace of makeup—yet her beauty turned more than a few heads as she moved through the hospital corridor. Her eyes, however, were not warm. They were cold and steady, a deep shade of midnight, hiding the storm that had lived within them for far too long.

She took the lift to the 10th floor.

Ding.

Ward 778.

Lilith pushed the door open silently, stepping into the private hospital room filled with soft light and the faint scent of medicine and roses. There, on the wide white bed, her husband lay asleep—his face peaceful, too peaceful.

Her lips curved faintly.

Alexander always looked like that after therapy—calm, resting, untouched by the memories that used to torment him. Hypnosis therapy had become part of his daily schedule, each session peeling back layers of trauma... but also, pieces of her.

He was forgetting her.

Not all at once. But slowly. Cruelly. Moment by moment, like leaves falling from a tree in winter.

Lilith stepped forward and placed the three bags on the side table—one with warm clothes, one with things he liked, and one filled with homemade snacks he used to ask for when he was Ray.

She stood there for a long moment, just watching him breathe.

No one saw what she had sacrificed in this past year.

With Alexander in no condition to handle anything, she had taken charge of the entire Carter empire. Under her hands, the company didn’t just survive—it soared. The once-skeptical board members now bowed their heads before her. Magazines called her "The Iron Belle", a goddess in the world of business and entertainment. Her company, ESE, had grown into a global name. Her face was everywhere—on billboards, screens, interviews.

Yet the man she loved was slipping further away from her.

Every therapy session took a part of him. Every time he opened his eyes, she held her breath, praying he would remember her name.

Sometimes he did.

Sometimes he didn’t.

And when he didn’t... she smiled anyway. She held his hand anyway. She whispered stories of their wedding, of Rose, of little things he once loved—trying to bring him back.

Ana and Alan, now aware of the full truth, were filled with regret. They stepped up, finally giving their attention to Rose, making amends in their own quiet ways. But none of that changed the ache that lingered in Lilith’s heart each time she walked out of this room alone.

She adjusted the blanket over his chest gently, then leaned down, brushing her lips softly over his forehead.

"I’ll come again tomorrow," she whispered.

Then she picked up her empty hands and walked away. Her heels clicked again on the tile floor as she left—head held high, spine straight, heart quietly breaking.

Behind her, the man in the bed shifted slightly in his sleep.

But he didn’t wake up.

***

Lilith had changed.

Day by day, little by little, something inside her had turned cold...

Because every day, the man she loved forgot her a little more.

Every time she visited, she would smile and talk to him gently, just like before. But when he looked at her with those beautiful eyes without recognition, without warmth—something inside her cracked silently. And yet, she never showed it.

The doctors said it was normal.

They reassured her again and again.

"He will remember... eventually. His brain is just protecting itself."

Eventually.

But how long was eventually?

How many days?

How many seasons would pass before his heart remembered what his mind forgot?

Lilith never asked that question out loud.

Instead, she did what she always did—took care of him. Took care of everything.

She told everyone—staff, nurses, even Rose—not to mention her name around him. According to the doctor, sudden emotional reminders could shake his healing mind and trigger a mental collapse again. It was risky.

So she erased herself from his world... for his sake.

But inside, she was quietly breaking.

Rose noticed the change before anyone else. Lilith didn’t laugh the same. She didn’t scold or tease like she used to. Even her smiles had become quiet, like shadows of what they were before.

Rose hated seeing her like that.

So every evening after school, she tried to cheer her up in her own little ways. She drew small portraits of Lilith and left them on her desk, sometimes her brother too, with little hearts and silly notes like:

"Everything will get better with time :)"

Other times, she tried cooking sweets—though most of the time they were either burnt or too salty. But Lilith still ate them, smiling softly, telling her they were delicious.

But once Rose left the room, Lilith would sit in the silence of her home, looking out the window, holding a drawing in her lap, her eyes distant.

She missed him.. all of him...

Ray’s cheerful whining.

Gray’s steady calm.

Alexander’s deep voice and how he held her close on cold nights like she was the only warmth he ever needed.

Now he was just... Sebastian.

Alive. Healing. But not whole.

And not hers. Not yet.

Some nights, she would sit at the edge of her bed, brushing her fingers over the old wedding ring on her hand and whisper to herself, "I’ll wait. I’ll wait until you find me again."

Then she’d turn off the lights, lie down alone, and pretend that the bed wasn’t too big without him in it.