Chapter 303 Her Name Is Aurora
Alexander's head throbbed, as if pressure were building inside his skull, ready to split his thoughts apart.
At the same time, his chest felt like something had been torn out—an aching, cold emptiness. He knew he'd lost what mattered most, but he couldn't name it.
What had he forgotten?
Alexander couldn't remember.
Darkness swallowed him again.
The next time he opened his eyes, Armando was sitting by the bed, gripping his hand tightly. His eyes were red, tears streaming down his face.
"Alexander, you're finally awake. You were in a car accident—you've been in a coma for months!"
A coma...
Alexander blinked slowly, then seemed to accept this explanation instinctively.
Sharp pain suddenly shot through him. He gasped, crying out uncontrollably, his eyes flying open.
Medical staff immediately gathered around. "Mr. Hamilton, you're awake? The surgery was successful—we've cleared out the blood clot. Don't worry, your memory needs time to recover. You'll remember what you forgot soon enough."
Remembering this now, Alexander in the present pulled his lips into something that barely passed for a smile.
Only now did he remember everything.
He remembered what he'd forgotten, what he'd missed. He remembered that at sixteen, he'd made a solemn promise to someone—that he'd take care of her, stay with her, never leave her for the rest of his life.
Later, he betrayed that promise.
Not only did he betray it, he treated the woman he loved most in this life as an enemy, and treated his enemy as his lover.
The thing he feared most had happened after all.
The pills Caroline took—maybe they weren't just to turn herself into Edith. Maybe she also wanted to forget him.
She'd loved him since they were young, gave him the truest, most passionate love she had, and he lost her.
Alexander finally understood why, when he saw Caroline again after being discharged from the hospital following the "car accident," she looked at him with such complicated eyes.
Because the man she loved wasn't there anymore.
The boy he'd been had been left behind after the sea—frozen at the moment he loved her most. The one who came back was only Alexander: the Hamilton family's heir, the name that made people in Grandhaven uneasy, the mafia godfather. Not the boy she'd fallen in love with.
Alexander murmured, "Caroline... if we meet again after we die, how do I explain why I forgot everything? How do I tell you that I finally remembered it all, but only after you died? No, I don't think we'll meet again. You'll go to heaven, to that easy, free place, and live the life you always wanted. And I'll stay in hell, never able to reach you again."
Half a month later, Alexander was discharged.
Mark could feel that Alexander was quieter than before.
But he no longer lost control like he used to.
He started living day by day in an orderly way, stopped punishing himself through self-destruction, and returned to the company to take charge, just like the old Alexander.
Except in his free time, Alexander often went to Lina's clinic to work as her assistant for free.
He helped many patients with psychological problems. In one online voting event, Alexander was even voted the year's most caring citizen.
Sometimes Alexander would talk to Mark about the past.
He later learned from Mark that after Caroline escaped, she went back to that small house. She saw the traces of the chase and fight, but could never find any sign of where Alexander had gone.
Later, Caroline returned to the Neville mansion.
Isabella beat her badly. For two whole months she could barely get out of bed—she almost died.
The next time Caroline heard news of Alexander, she heard he'd been in a "car accident," spent half a year in the hospital, then was taken home by Armando.
Luckily, that small house hadn't been bought by Caroline yet back then. She rented it under someone else's name, so no one knew who had been taking care of Alexander those months.
A year later, Caroline used prize money from a piano competition to buy that small house.
Later, she went abroad to study and adopted a child overseas.
There was finally news about that child.
Apparently, she was now being cared for by another woman Caroline had helped during her time studying abroad.
Before getting married, Caroline had left them both a large sum of money.
But by the time the news got back, that woman had been dead for a month.
During that month, the child had been passed around between several local charities, with no one actually taking her in, and still no decision about where she should go.
As soon as Alexander heard the news, he rushed there and met the child.
She was eight now, should have been in elementary school.
But the woman had died right at the start of the school year. The tuition hadn't been paid yet when she passed away, so the girl had stopped going to school.
She was a thin little girl who, from certain angles, looked like Caroline as a child in Alexander's memory.
But her eyes were bright, like she wasn't afraid of anything.
It was a strange feeling. She had no blood relation to Caroline, yet you couldn't ignore the similarity—like Caroline's shadow, like her biological daughter.
Alexander walked over and crouched down in front of her, his voice very gentle.
"What's your name?"
"Aurora."
Aurora...
Alexander's lips trembled, and tears suddenly poured out, unstoppable.
This name—it was the name he'd given to the daughter who died shortly after birth, back when he'd completely lost his mind and thought Caroline and the baby were still alive.
Only then did he realize that some things had been set in motion long before he ever noticed.
He couldn't wipe the tears from his face, but still asked her, "Do you remember your mother?"
"I do." The girl nodded gently.
"Her name was Caroline Neville. Ms. White, who took care of me, told me. She said when I was very small, my mom kept me with her. Later my mom went back to Grandhaven quickly, and asked Ms. White to take care of me."
Aurora was unnaturally mature, like she'd learned to accept reality very early.
"I know Caroline wasn't my birth mother, but she left me a letter. She said she thought of me as her own daughter. She loved me, so in my heart, she is my mother."
Alexander covered his face with his hand, first crying, then almost laughing, his breathing ragged.
Aurora was scared at first, but soon she gathered her courage and reached out her small hand, gently touching his tear-soaked face.
"Sir, please don't cry. Are you my mom's friend? I know my mom has passed away, but if she could see you this sad, she'd be sad too!"
Alexander reached out and wrapped that tiny hand in his palm.
"Aurora," his voice was soft, as if afraid to frighten her, "you should call me... Dad."