Chapter 40: Where the Paths Lead

The sun rose slowly, stretching golden light over the garden, illuminating every corner of the place that had been our refuge, our dream, our world.

We stood side by side, not with sadness, but with something softer a quiet acceptance. We weren't losing this place. We were carrying it with us.

You turned to me, eyes filled with memories, and I knew you felt it too. The laughter in the air, the whispers in the night, the way love had grown here like the roses that framed our path.

I took one last look at the wooden house, the library, the garden of white and blue roses. Every piece of it was woven into our story, a story that wasn't ending but simply moving forward.

You smiled at me then, a promise in your gaze. "Ready?"

I exhaled, letting the weight of the moment settle before nodding. "With you? Always."

Hand in hand, we stepped away, our footprints the last thing the garden would hold of us. But it didn't feel like goodbye. It felt like the start of something new.

Because no matter where we went, no matter what came next.

Home wasn't just a place. It was us.

And that would never change.