Chapter 269

Chapter 269

Nicholas's hair, white for so many years, had turned back to light gold.

There were still a few spots at his temples where the dye couldn't quite reach, leaving traces of gray that the years had left behind. But for a moment, Sophia felt like she was looking at him in his twenties again.

He leaned against the doorframe, watching her, the corners of his mouth curved up slightly, like a child waiting to be told he'd done well.

Sophia stood there for a long time, feeling like the person in front of her was both familiar and a stranger.

The unfamiliar side made her heart beat faster. The familiar side made her eyes sting.

She suddenly thought back to their very first date, so many years ago.

Nicholas had stood in front of her wearing a clean white shirt, his hair light gold, slightly tousled by the wind.

He had smiled and reached out his hand to her, said something, but she'd been too nervous to catch the words.

That was the young version of him she'd known — full of spirit, proud, with that sharp edge that only belongs to youth.

Sophia's lips moved. She wanted to say something, but found she couldn't make a sound.

Her eyes slowly turned red, something warm rising from deep inside her. She tried hard to push it back down, but it spilled over anyway.

Nicholas took a step forward and reached out, gently touching the tear that had just slid down her cheek with his fingertip.

"Why are you crying again? I was trying to make you happy."

Sophia sniffled and blinked hard, trying to force the tears back. But the more she blinked, the more came.

She reached out, her fingertips trembling slightly, and touched his hair.

"You… when did you go dye your hair?"

"My leg's better, figured it was time for a new look." Nicholas smiled. "Benjamin took me. He said the place has good stylists."

Sophia felt like laughing and crying at the same time. She gave him a light thump on the chest. "You could've told me… I almost thought you'd gone missing…"

Nicholas caught her hand and held it in his.

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise," he said.

Sophia looked down at their joined hands, then looked back up at his hair, now light gold again.

The white hairs were hidden under the fresh dye, like a story that had been turned to a new page.

She suddenly felt her chest fill up completely, like something had taken root inside her, put out a shoot, and finally opened its first leaf.

"What made you want to dye your hair all of a sudden?" she asked.

Nicholas looked down at her, quiet for a few seconds, then spoke softly.

"Eloise said she wants a dad who can dig in the sand with her. Serena can't talk yet, but I figure she'd want the same. And you said you wanted to walk slowly down the street holding my hand."

He paused.

"The way I looked before — if someone saw me on the street, the first thing they'd think was that something bad had happened to me. I don't want that anymore. I want to start fresh, clean."

He tightened his grip on her hand.

"I want the first thing they see when they look at me not to be all of that. I want them to think — that's their dad, that's our family. Not the Nicholas with the cane and the white hair."

Sophia's tears fell again.

She buried her face in his chest and said, her voice muffled, "The white hair was nice too, you know."

Nicholas let out a small laugh and rested his chin on top of her head. "Then, when it grows back white on its own, I'll leave it."

Sophia laughed softly against his chest and reached up to brush his bangs aside with her fingers.

"You look a bit like before," she said.

Nicholas tilted his head. "Like before, how?"

"Like the person who stood in front of a painting at that gallery, pretending to look at it, but actually staring at me the whole time."

Nicholas went still for a moment, then his ears slowly turned red.

He didn't say anything. He just leaned down and gently touched his forehead to hers.

After a long moment, Sophia suddenly thought of something. She pulled herself out of his arms, ran to the table, and held her phone up toward him.

"Don't move. Let me take a photo."

The sudden move caught Nicholas off guard. He instinctively stepped back, but Sophia had already pressed the shutter.

In the photo, Nicholas stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, sunlight falling right on his shoulders, his hair a clean light gold, the corners of his mouth gently curved, his eyes still holding a trace of shyness he hadn't had time to hide.

Sophia looked down at the photo for a long time.

Then she turned the phone around and showed it to Nicholas.

"Nicholas, welcome back."

Nicholas looked at the face on the screen — one he almost didn't recognize — for a few seconds. Then he smiled.

He reached out and pulled Sophia into his arms, phone and all.

He nodded. "I'm back."

Time flew.

The ginkgo tree at the gate of Jackson Villa seemed like it had just put out new leaves yesterday. In the blink of an eye, it had gone green, then yellow, yellow then bare, bare then green again.

Over and over, twenty years had passed just like that.

Eloise was getting married.

The first time Sophia heard Eloise mention the boy, she was sitting on the sofa braiding Serena's hair.

Serena had just started high school then, deep in a rebellious phase, determined to do the opposite of everything Eloise did.

Eloise was different. She'd always been quiet and steady — school, college, work, one step at a time, like a tree growing slowly taller, spreading its shade before anyone even noticed.

Eloise sat across the dining table, holding a warm cup of milk, hesitating for a long time before she finally said, "Mom, I'm seeing someone."

Sophia kept combing without stopping, just nodded, and waited for her to go on.

Serena jumped up first, half her braid already falling loose, spinning around and firing off questions: "Eloise, you have a boyfriend? Who is he? Is he cute? What does he do? Is he good to you?"

Eloise's face went completely red under the rapid-fire questions. It was Nicholas who finally walked out of the study and said, unhurried, "Let Eloise talk," before Serena finally settled down.

Eloise's boyfriend, Clifton Farley, came to the house a few times after that. He was tall and slim, wore thin-framed glasses, and didn't say much. But every time he visited, he remembered to bring the herbal tea Sophia liked, and he sat quietly with Nicholas over a game of chess, losing three rounds without once looking flustered.

Nicholas pushed the chess pieces aside, took a sip of his coffee, and gave Sophia a small nod.

And just like that, Eloise's engagement was settled.

The wedding was set for autumn, when the ginkgo leaves were just beginning to turn yellow.

Sophia spent months running around getting everything ready — the venue, the banquet menu, Eloise's wedding dress, the packaging for the wedding favors. She looked over every single detail herself.