"She remembers some things," Seb explained carefully. "But not everything." Seren kept smiling weakly at Amara, completely unaware of the storm happening around her.

"She only clearly remembers up until her fifth birthday," Seb added softly.

And suddenly. Everything clicked into place inside Amara’s head. Her fifth birthday. Before everything changed. Before the poison started. Before Seren found out the truth. Amara’s breathing became uneven again.

Seren had learned when she turned six that Amara wasn’t her biological mother. That was when everything slowly fell apart.

Seb’s Mother, Elara’s plots. The whispers. The manipulation. The constant reminders that Amara was "just" the woman who raised her, and wants to take his father away from her real mother.

Little by little, they poisoned Seren against her until the child Amara, whom she had loved like her own, started pulling away. Started becoming cold. Angry. There had been days Seren refused to hug her. Days she cried for another woman.

Days she repeated cruel things adults had planted into her innocent mind. And Amara. God. Amara had still loved her anyway. Completely. Unconditionally.

Now, suddenly, Seren looked at her the same way she used to years ago. Before all the lies. Before the hatred. Before Amara discovered that Seb had been deceiving her from the very beginning.

Amara’s vision blurred with tears. A memory hit her hard without warning. Seb is placing tiny baby Seren into her arms for the first time. The baby had been so small. So warm.

Amara remembered crying instantly while Seren wrapped tiny fingers around hers. At that moment, she had loved her.

Not carefully. Not halfway. Completely. Like a real mother. And now that same little girl was looking at her again with pure love in her eyes. Like nothing terrible had ever happened between them.

Amara felt like she couldn’t breathe. "This..." she whispered shakily. "This is not happening."

But it was. It was happening. And somehow, after years of pain and loss, fate had dragged them all right back to the beginning again. Amara tried to hold herself together.

God knew she tried. But standing there looking at Seren felt like someone had ripped open old wounds she had spent years trying to survive. Every memory came back too fast.

The laughter. The bedtime stories. Tiny hands reaching for her after nightmares. The way Seren used to call for her before anyone else.

And then the later memories followed right after. The coldness. The rejection. The hatred was carefully planted into a child’s innocent heart. Amara felt like she was drowning in all of it. On the bed, Seren’s little face slowly crumpled when Amara didn’t move closer.

"M-Mother..." she whispered softly. The word nearly broke Amara apart. "Was Seren bad again?" the little girl asked tearfully. Amara’s breath caught painfully. Seren slowly opened her arms toward her.

"I want to hug you." Her voice trembled as tears rolled down her cheeks. Real tears. Genuine tears. The kind only a child could cry.

She looked so small lying there, weak and confused in that hospital bed, waiting for Amara to hold her the way she remembered. The way Amara always used to.

Julian’s arm tightened around Amara silently, holding her upright because he could feel her shaking beside him. But little Seren noticed immediately.

Her watery eyes shifted toward Julian’s hand around Amara. Confusion slowly spread across her pale face. "Why..." she whispered.

Then louder. "Why are you holding my mummy?" The room went still. Seren’s breathing suddenly became uneven. Her tiny face twisted painfully as she grabbed her head.

"M-My head hurts..." The machines beside her immediately started beeping faster. Sharp. Warning sounds fill the room.

Amara gasped. "Seren?" The little girl started crying harder now, clearly distressed.

"No... no... it hurts..." Julian instantly stepped back from Amara. Seb rushed forward immediately.

"Seren, princess, look at Daddy," Seb said quickly, panic finally showing on his face. "What’s wrong?" But Seren kept crying, clutching her head harder. No one noticed the brief silent smile that had crossed Seb’s face earlier.

The tiny moment of satisfaction. Because this. This confusion. This emotional chaos. This bond between Amara and Seren is reigniting. It was exactly what he had wanted. But now even Seb looked genuinely alarmed.

Doctors and nurses suddenly rushed into the room after hearing the monitors. "Everyone out!" The medical team quickly surrounded Seren while nurses began checking her vitals.

"Sir, we warned you," one doctor snapped angrily at Seb while adjusting the machines. "She cannot handle emotional stress right now."

Amara stood frozen near the door.

The doctor continued urgently, "If something triggers memories or emotions she isn’t mentally prepared for, it could severely damage her recovery."

Seb’s face darkened. "She could lose her mind completely," the doctor finished grimly. Amara choked on air. Lose her mind? No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening.

The room suddenly tilted around her. Her chest tightened violently. A sharp crushing pain spread through her body so suddenly that she grabbed onto the wall beside her.

She couldn’t breathe. The pain only got worse. First her chest. Then lower. Her stomach. A terrifying pain twisted through her so hard a broken sound escaped her lips.

"Ah—" Amara could barely stand anymore. Her body felt like it was breaking apart from the inside, sharp waves of pain folding through her one after another. She clutched her stomach, her breathing uneven, her face drained of every bit of color.

"Amara, what is wrong?" Julian asked, already moving toward her in a rush. He caught her just before her knees gave way.

"Get me out of here," she gasped, gripping his shirt tightly. "Julian... take me to another hospital... I can’t stay here..." Her voice cracked on the last words.

"Mrs. Creed.." the doctor began firmly as he stepped forward. Both Amara and Julian shot him a sharp, angry look.

"I’m sorry, Ms. Piers," the doctor corrected quickly, raising his hands in a calming gesture. "But you are in a hospital already. Let me examine you properly."

"No," Amara snapped weakly, shaking her head. "No, I don’t want any of you touching me. Not here."

The pain hit harder.