Mariana was still standing in front of Gabriel's desk, the photograph clutched in her hand. She couldn't tear her gaze away from the two figures in it. A much younger woman was offering a faint smile as she held a tiny baby who had only been in the world for a few minutes. Beside her stood a young man whose face now felt so unfamiliar, though something in his eyes was slowly becoming recognizable to Mariana. Gabriel. The name echoed through her mind again and again. Memories buried for years began surfacing in scattered fragments. The smell of medicine and antiseptic. The sound of a baby's cries. The cold hospital hallway. Pain that had nearly made her lose consciousness. Then a stranger who appeared at a time when she truly had no one. Mariana closed her eyes. "So... it really was you, sir." Her voice was faint, almost a whisper. Gabriel didn't answer right away. He only watched the changes in the woman's expression. There was guilt he had kept buried all these years, but also something far deeper. As though he had been waiting for the day Mariana would finally remember everything. "I knew you would remember," Gabriel finally said. Mariana opened her eyes. She looked at the photograph again. "I didn't recognize you when I first started working here." "I know." "Why?" The question came with a long exhale. Mariana was still struggling to accept that the man she had called Mr. Gabriel for the past two weeks was actually someone who had been there on the most important day of her life. Gabriel slowly walked toward the window. From there, the grounds around the mansion looked vast and peaceful, completely different from the place that had witnessed their meeting all those years ago. "I wasn't like this back then," he said. "My face was different. My hair was different too. A lot of things in my life changed after that day." Mariana stared at his back. "But you recognized me, sir." Gabriel was silent for a moment before nodding. "I recognized you the first time I saw you in this mansion." The answer left Mariana breathless. Two weeks. For two weeks, she had worked in that house, served meals, cleaned rooms, set the table, and occasionally spoken with Gabriel without ever knowing that he had actually recognized her from the very first day. "Why didn't you say anything, sir?" Gabriel turned around. His gaze met Mariana's eyes, which were beginning to brim with tears. "Because I wanted to make sure you hadn't come to this house because you knew who I was." Mariana fell silent. Gabriel continued in a calm voice, "I wanted to see you as Mariana. Not as the woman from my past whom I once helped." Those words only made Mariana's chest feel tighter. "And after two weeks?" "I was sure." Mariana lowered her head. Her fingers carefully tightened around the edge of the photograph. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but one thing kept troubling her. "That promise..." Gabriel didn't move. Mariana raised her face. "You promised you would come back." Silence filled the room. For the first time, Gabriel's expression changed. The firmness that was usually visible in his eyes slowly disappeared, replaced by something heavier. "I remember." "Then why didn't you come back?" The question finally escaped her. Not with anger, but with a pain that had apparently remained buried in a place Mariana had long believed was dead. She had waited. Not for a day or two. Back then, after Gabriel left, Mariana repeatedly convinced herself that he would return. Every vehicle that stopped in front of the house filled her with hope. Whenever someone knocked on the door, her heart would briefly beat faster. But Gabriel never came. Over time, Mariana stopped waiting. She raised Liliana alone and forced herself to accept that the promise had perhaps been nothing more than words from a man who had felt sorry for her. "I didn't leave because I wanted to abandon you." Gabriel's voice was heavy. Mariana stared at him without saying a word. "There was something I had to take care of back then. I thought I'd only be gone for a little while. A few days. A few weeks at most." Gabriel paused, as if recalling the past. "But everything changed." Mariana gripped the photograph even tighter. "What happened?" Gabriel didn't answer. Not because he didn't know, but because it was clear there was a part of the past he wasn't ready to tell her about. Mariana slowly shook her head. "So all this time, I was waiting for someone who didn't even know whether he would come back." "I know." "But you didn't come." "I failed to keep my promise." The answer was so simple, yet it only made Mariana's eyes burn hotter. She didn't need an excuse to erase the fact that years had passed. "I'm not waiting anymore." Gabriel looked at her. "I know." "Then why now?" The question left Gabriel silent for quite some time. Then he walked toward the desk and stopped directly in front of Mariana. "Because I can finally come back." Mariana lifted her face. "I didn't come to you to ask you to forget the past. Nor do I expect you to trust me right away." Gabriel drew a long breath. "I only want to keep the promise I made too late." Mariana's heart pounded. She looked at the man before her. His face had indeed changed. His body was more solid, his hair streaked with silver, and his gaze far more mature than that of the man who had once stood beside her on the day Liliana was born. But the look in his eyes was still the same. Mariana finally understood why she had felt there was something strange every time Gabriel looked at her from the beginning. It wasn't because he was her employer. It was because deep inside her, a small part of her had once known that gaze. "Why marry me?" The question made Gabriel fall silent. Mariana waited. This time, Gabriel didn't answer immediately. "I knew that question would come," he finally said. "And?" "I'll answer it." Mariana furrowed her brow. "But not today." Gabriel looked at the photograph in Mariana's hand. "Because before you accept this marriage, there's something you need to know about why I left back then." Mariana froze. "And after you learn the truth, if you still want to leave, I won't stop you." Gabriel carefully took the photograph from Mariana's hand. But before he could put it away, Mariana noticed something on the back. There was handwriting. Writing faded by the passage of time. Mariana moved closer. She read it slowly. I'll come back. Wait for me. Her breath caught. It was Gabriel's handwriting. And for the first time in years, Mariana realized that she wasn't the only one who had kept a memory of that day. Outside the room, someone stood behind the door, which wasn't fully closed, listening to the words until both hands clenched tightly.