Xiran finally awakened, his eyes adjusted to the dim light in the room. Frila was sitting in the chair near him and she sprang up from her seat seeing him awake.

"Señor! How do you feel?" she lightly inquired, her face telling a tale of sadness.

"Frila? Hmmm...what happened to me?" he tried to sit up but a splitting headache kept him down as his hand shot up to his head. His voice came out hoarser than usual too.

"Please keep lying down, y...you have not been well. Señor Rivan had to call his doctor and they had to sedate you," she replied in a shaky voice and offered him a glass of water. Xiran tried to sit up and she helped him by guiding him up and making him take a few sips.

"How long have I been out?" Xiran remembered screaming and his mind shutting down to everything around him because it had begun to overwhelm him.

"About 24 hours," she replied, he hadn’t slept so much in a long long time.

"I see. Where is Rivan?" he inquired.

"Señor stayed with you but then he received a call from Mayor Mazitine that something had come up, so he had to leave. He told me to call him as soon as you would regain consciousness," she took out her phone to call him but Xiran stopped her.

"Let him work, Frila. I am fine," he spoke very softly almost sadly and it didn’t go unnoticed by Frila, so she asked:

"Señor, what happened? We have been worried sick about you."

An awkward silence filled the dimly lit room after her question and he sat very quietly before faintly replying:

"I let her go....I erased her memories of me..." Frila’s hands flew to her mouth and she stifled a cry, seeing how distressed he appeared. First, they lost Carios and now Aselia.

"Señor...I am s...so sorry," tears she was trying to not shed made their way out and she couldn’t speak anymore.

"It’s for the better Frila. I couldn’t keep you people safe, I couldn’t keep my city safe, how was I to keep her safe? I wasn’t worthy of her love, she deserves a normal life away from us wretched vampires. She is too innocent for us to taint."

The forlorn look in Xiran’s eyes told her how much he was missing her. His screams were still fresh in Frila’s mind, she had never seen him so broken before.

"It’s not your fault, none of it was. And you deserve so much better than this," more tears spilt down her cheeks and her voice cracked.

"I don’t, Frila. I deserve what happened to me," he calmly replied and her heart constricted bearing his answer. Xiran then turned toward her and said:

"I gave you something for safe keeping, I need it."

"I will get it for you today but first let me get you some blood to drink, you haven’t had any for days," she slightly bowed and left the room.

Once the door closed he reached into his pocket and took out Aselia’s pendant. The emerald sparkled as the light reflected from it and it reminded him of her bright intelligent eyes. He pressed it near his nose and took a deep sniff, it still had her lingering smell. And her memories hit him in torrents, closing his eyes he just sat there replaying them like a reel on repeat.

"Señor!!!"

Frila finally jolted him back to reality and he opened his eyes to see she was offering him a glass. He quietly took it and gulped it down in one go and handed it back. She refilled it from the jug she had brought along and handed it back. She made him drink the whole jug and he quietly drank to replenish his energy.

None of the blood appealed to him any longer from the moment he had tasted hers. It tasted like medicine, he only drank this for survival.

"Thanks, Frila," he handed her the empty glass and she took it and asked:

"Señor, should I bring breakfast?"

"No, I am not hungry. There is something I want to discuss with you. Sit down," Xiran pointed to the chair and she settled down in it wondering what he wanted to say.

"I want to do something about our hotel. I don’t want to go back there, it holds too many memories and considering what happened I don’t think you want to return there as well."

She dejectedly bowed her head at his words, that place surely held torturous memory of Carios dying but that has been the only home she had known for years. It also held all the beautiful memories she had made with Carios.

"I want to return there, that place is like my home and I don’t want to give your father the satisfaction of thinking that because of him we had to shut it down. I want it to flourish even more so we can show him, we aren’t afraid," her words held determination and her eyes were fearless. That timid Frila had been lost somewhere. This surprised Xiran and he nodded at her.

"Then I want to hand over its reins to you, Frila. I am going to name it after you and declare you it’s the owner from today onwards. We will get the paperwork done, run it as you like," Xiran knew this was the least he could do for her.

"Thank you so much Señor and Hotel Cafris, that’s what I would like to rename it, after Carios and me," she replied after a brief pause and gently smiled at her Señor.

"Perfect and it’s nothing Frila, I want you to have a secure future and become a successful businesswoman and not remain my secretary. I am relieving you of those duties, I will manage those affairs on my own now," his words didn’t please her.

"But..." Xiran cut her off and said:

"No! Frila. It will be done as I have said. I want to see you grow, I am not cutting you off. I know you will always be there for me when I will need you."

"Señor, where will you go?" she apprehensively asked.

"I want to build something, that will keep me busy. I will show you when it’s done. And I will live in my house from now on, it has Aselia’s memories in every corner and I want to feel them every day."