Chapter 18
308words
He tracked her down through a mutual friend and arranged to meet at a café. He'd aged dramatically—his once commanding presence replaced by the loneliness and fragility of old age.
He no longer defended his past actions. Instead, with an almost pleading tone, he asked if she might occasionally visit. His current wife had left him too, leaving him alone in that vast, empty house.
Lena listened without interruption.
When he finished, she removed a check from her bag and slid it across the table.
"David," she called him by name for the first time, not "Dad," "you taught me to see the world through a lens—the greatest gift of my life. As a mentor, you were unparalleled."
She paused, her gaze clear and resolute.
"But as a father, you failed. This money should keep you comfortable in your old age. Consider it payment in full for whatever parental care you provided."
"From now on, we're even."
She stood and walked out of the café without looking back, leaving the old man staring after her in shocked silence.
Back at her studio, Lena received a video from Hassan.
The video showed the Syrian boy who'd once traded her chocolate for an SD card. Now a young man with defined features, he held an old phone with shy pride, showing off his photographs—his rebuilt hometown, his sister returning to school, a tiny flower blooming amid rubble.
"I want to become like Liam," the young man said carefully through a translation app. "To use... use light to show everyone there is not only death here."
Lena watched his earnest face, saw the stubborn flower amid ruins, and felt tears slide down her cheeks again. But this time, they were warm tears.
Liam, do you see? Your light truly did illuminate something.
