Chapter 16: The Last Choice

Nearly two years passed in the blink of an eye.

The final phase of our medical research project was successfully completed.

Our team's breakthrough was recognized by several international medical organizations.

On the day the results were announced, Professor Moore smiled proudly.

"You did it, Nina."

"You've become the doctor you always dreamed of being."

Looking at the applause filling the conference hall, I suddenly remembered the young woman who had once abandoned her own dreams just to remain beside the man she loved.

She felt like someone from another lifetime.

After the ceremony ended, Julia rushed toward me with an envelope.

"Someone left this for you downstairs."

I looked at the handwriting.

I recognized it immediately.

It belonged to Dante.

For several minutes, I simply stared at the envelope before finally opening it.

Inside was a single handwritten letter.

"Nina,"

"By the time you read this, I will already have left Manhorne forever."

"Over the past two years, I ended every connection I had with the de Rossi family."

"I exposed the people responsible for manipulating our lives and accepted responsibility for my own mistakes."

"None of it can undo the pain I caused you."

"I once believed that protecting my family meant sacrificing the person who loved me the most."

"Only after losing you did I realize how foolish I had been."

"I don't expect forgiveness."

"I only hope you continue living the life you deserve."

"Thank you for loving me when I didn't deserve it."

"Goodbye, Nina."

"Dante."

I quietly folded the letter.

There were no tears.

Only peace.

Julia carefully asked, "Are you okay?"

I smiled gently.

"I've never been better."

That afternoon, I walked alone through the hospital garden.

The flowers were beginning to bloom.

Children laughed as they chased one another across the grass.

Patients sat peacefully beneath the trees.

Life continued moving forward.

Just like it always had.

Professor Moore found me standing beside the fountain.

"The World Medical Association wants you to lead a new international research team," he said.

"It'll require traveling around the world."

"Would you like to accept?"

Without hesitation, I nodded.

"Yes."

"This is exactly the life I've always wanted."

Professor Moore smiled.

"I knew you'd say that."

As I looked toward the clear blue sky, I silently thanked the past.

Not because it had been kind.

But because every heartbreak had led me here.

The frightened woman who once waited for someone else's love no longer existed.

In her place stood a woman who had learned to choose herself first.

And this time, no one would ever take that away from her.