That night, Lilia called Daniel.

"You never married? Never found anyone else?" Lilia asked.

"Know this, Lilia. I loved your other with all that was in me. She was my world. She could never be replaced, and it wouldn't be fair to the person I tried to replace her with. They would never come close to her. I didn't even try," he responded.

"What was it like for you after she left?" she asked tentatively.

"Torture. Always asking why, wondering what I had done to push her away. Searching for her always. There are times when I wanted to die, I missed her so much. But I thought that she had left me for my career, so I didn't want to throw it away. I worked all the harder, figuring if she ever came back, I would make her proud. I'm a lawyer, I own my firm. Eventually, I felt better, but a part of me was always missing," he answered.

"Was it that bad?" she asked, trying to hid her pain. Did Nick suffer the same when I left?

"Yes. Why all the questions about this, Lilia? Why about her leaving?"

"I just wanted to know what it was like for you. I mean…I guess I just need to know if I did the same thing to someone else," she whispered.

"Tell me about it, Lilia. I want to know about your life. Please," he asked. She sighed, and began her story.

* * * *

"Tell me again why you don't want to tell anyone about us," Sasha ordered.

"Sash, it's just so hard to have privacy around here. I want you all to myself, that's all. After the tour is over, when we are no longer in such close quarters, we'll tell them, sweetie. No problem. If you think they're nosey now, just wait until they find out," he warned, planting kisses along her neck as he spoke.

"Well, since you put it so eloquently…I don't like having to sneak around."

"Hey, listen. We can go tell everyone you want to right now. That's no problem. It's not like I'm hiding you or anything. I just don't want you to feel awkward around their scrutiny," he explained.

"No, no. It's okay, really it is."

* * * *

"Wow, it's almost like history repeating itself. A few differences, but wow," Daniel said as she finished.

"He was there for me the whole time. He just never let me know it," she said.

"Lilia, would you mind if I gave you some advice?"

"Can't be worse than some of the other stuff I've gotten. Fire away," she answered.

"Tell him why you left. Write to him, tell him in person, anything. Don't expect anything when you do, just tell him. Otherwise, it will haunt him forever, wondering what he did. And it'll haunt you too, playing 'what if' for the rest of your life," he offered to her.

"I don't know how I could face him. After everything, I couldn't just show up and expect him to listen to me. I wouldn't listen to you earlier," she reminded him.

"Mistakes have ways of following people through generations. I never loved another woman in my life, and I know, I just know deep in my heart, that your mother never loved another man. She died alone, and so will I. We will never have the chances to fix our mistakes. But you do. Take it, please take it," he pleaded.

That had been hours earlier. His words still rang in her mind. Could she really fix it? Could she make him understand?

But what would she find there if she went to him? What if he had moved on? Wouldn't it cause more harm than good for him? The last thing she wanted to do for him was harm him more. It'll haunt him forever. And it'll haunt you too, her father's voice warned.

She paced around her bedroom, until she stood in front of the window. She looked out on the quiet city and tried to silence her thinking. It didn't work. The thoughts kept coming back to her, torturing her with their appeal.

She turned and found herself blindly picking up the dried flower. It was like a shrine, representing what they had had. As she turned it in her fingers, she made her decision. She set it down gently on the dresser, and walked over to the phone.

With trembling fingers, she picked up the receiver and dialed a number.

"Paul, I need a favor."