「Aenid Cafe」

Tiana stared blankly at the business card in her hand, lost in a daze. She only looked up when the chair across from her was pulled out, someone sat down, and then called her name.

Looking at Cassian Jennings before her, Tiana couldn’t shake the feeling that Cassian had suddenly aged several years. Of course, Cassian was thirty-one this year, a mature man.

But the Cassian she remembered, despite being a little older than them, had always felt like he was their age—so, so young.

Suddenly, an inexplicable sadness washed over her, and her eyes grew slightly red. "Cassian, you’re here."

"Yes, Tiana. You asked to see me. Is something the matter?" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"Cassian, I don’t know if I should even be telling you this. Honestly, I’ve been struggling with it the whole time I was sitting here. If I tell you, I’ll be letting Leo down. But if I don’t... I just can’t let it go."

She couldn’t rest until she knew whether it was Amelia, whether she was still alive.

She and Amelia had been inseparable growing up; she refused to believe she could have mistaken her for someone else.

"Tiana, what is it you’re trying to tell me?" Cassian Jennings’s expression turned cold at the mention of Leo’s name.

After much internal debate, Tiana finally steeled herself to speak. "Cassian, I’ve thought this over and over. You’re the only person I could come to about this."

"Tiana, just say what’s on your mind. You don’t need to hold back."

Tiana nodded, her voice catching as she spoke. "Cassian... I saw Amelia last night."

"What did you just say?" Cassian Jennings, who had been lounging nonchalantly just a moment before, suddenly sat bolt upright. He stared at Tiana Grayson, his voice laced with shock.

"I really saw Amelia! She’s alive—she isn’t dead! Cassian, no one believes me right now. You have to believe me."

Cassian struggled to compose himself, but his voice still trembled with unconcealed excitement. "Tiana, I believe you. Tell me, where did you see Amelia?" ’Even if there was only a one percent chance, he had to believe her.’

"It was just last night, at the Joyce family’s home. Cassian, none of us went to Amelia’s funeral back then. All our families were dealing with emergencies, so no one ever investigated whether her death was real or not. It wasn’t until I saw her last night that it all clicked. Amelia is alive, she has to be! And I know I wouldn’t mistake her for someone else."

Tiana’s words left Cassian even more stunned. ’Back then, I never questioned whether she had really died. Thinking about it now, how laughable is that? With the Avery Family’s influence, how difficult could it be to fake a death...’

"Cassian, this is the business card she left last night. Look. She’s called Celia Osborne now, and she’s an intern at Helios Group."

"Helios Group? Celia Osborne?" Holding the business card, Cassian felt a tremor run through his entire being.

"Yes. And Mrs. Avery’s maiden name is also Ouyang."

Cassian slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet. "It’s her! It’s absolutely Amelia Avery!" he said, his voice brimming with emotion. "Tiana, I have to go. Thank you for telling me she’s alive." ’That’s right. Mrs. Avery’s maiden name was, in fact, Ouyang.’

He remembered how Amelia Avery had once complained to him that her surname, "An," wasn’t stylish in the least. She’d said she would rather take her mother’s surname, Ouyang, and call herself Cecilia Osborne! And now, today, she had indeed changed her surname and her given name. But she hadn’t chosen the name she’d joked about—the one that was a tribute to him. Instead, it was Celia.

’So that little one had a crush on him even back then. But at the time, he had only ever thought of her as a little sister.’