Chapter 10

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 Chapter 10: A New Tune

Ella never sang the same way after that.

Her voice grew deeper, richer—filled with something people couldn’t name. Her songs were all about time, memory, the way love lingers in the spaces between seconds.

She kept the watch with her always. It ticked sometimes. Not regularly. Just when she missed him most.

One night, months later, she dreamed of that garden again.

But this time, she opened the gate.

The man was there. Waiting. No shadows. No uncertainty.

She took his hand.

And onstage the next evening, in the final note of her new song, the lights flickered. Just for a second.

No one else noticed.

But she smiled.

Because somewhere—whether past, future, or dream—he was listening.

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