"Let’s meet again... friend."

"..."

The voice from the screen faded as the movie’s credits rolled in a soft blur of colors. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Dinner ended without much fanfare. Clara finished tidying the kitchen and took her leave. Once the front door clicked shut, Soren brought out a few bags of sweets and snacks. He sat down on the sofa beside Ethea and pulled up a mystery series they had bookmarked.

As the new show began, Soren talked about today’s events. He told her about his progress with his technique. He also told her he was now officially E-Rank and that the pay increase meant he could provide better care and comfort, and that their life would improve significantly.

Ethea stayed quiet, keeping her eyes on the television, but her stillness suggested she was listening closely to every word.

After a while, Soren took a deep breath while reaching up to scratch the back of his neck.

"Actually... There is something else I wanted to talk about. Something really important."

Ethea finally turned her head toward him.

Soren looked back at her, words spiraling in his mind as he tried to find the right way to say it. After hesitating for a bit, he gritted his teeth and opened his mouth.

"I... I have been disowned by my family."

He confessed, staring right at her eyes.

"..."

Ethea stared back, showing no signs of surprise or any other reaction.

In fact, it looked as if she expected this and wanted to hear the rest.

Soren breathed a sigh, his shoulders dropping as the weight of the secret finally left him.

"Remember that day your father came over?" he asked. "Just before he arrived, the family butler showed up. He delivered the disownment notice. From that day on, I was no longer a Valmere."

Ethea’s gaze remained fixed on his, her pupils reflecting the dim light of the television. She didn’t look away, nor did she offer pity. She simply waited for him to finish what he had started.

"I didn’t tell you because... well, because there was already so much happening." He paused. "And honestly, I wasn’t sure how you would take it. Being married to a man with no family. No name and no inheritance."

Ethea said nothing.

"But the truth is," he continued, "that name never meant anything to me. The Valmeres never treated me like family. So losing it... It wasn’t a loss. It was just... a weight finally falling off my back."

He sat there for a moment, the flickering light of the television casting shadows over his face as he recalled the years spent chasing a ghost.

He had spent almost his entire youth trying to fit into the rigid mold the Valmeres had carved out for him, desperately hoping that if he just worked harder or acted more like a ’son’ of their house, he would finally belong. He had reached for their approval until his hands were tired, only to find that the mold was never meant for him to begin with.

Anyway, he had long since given up on that dream, realizing the truth well before the butler ever showed up with that notice. He had come to understand that no matter how many achievements the former Soren piled up, he would always be an outsider in his own home. The formal rejection was just a final confirmation of a reality he had already accepted in his heart.

Now that the name was officially gone, he didn’t feel like he had lost anything at all. In fact, he felt like he had finally stepped out of a suffocating fog into the clear light of day.

’Hmm...’

He let out a long breath, and a small, genuine smile tugged at his lips as he looked at the woman sitting beside him.

"Now that I am finally free, I want to start my own life. And..."

’...I want to build it... with you, together,’ he thought, though he kept the words tucked away in his chest. He wasn’t ready to say them out loud yet, but the certainty behind those unspoken words gave him a strange, newfound sense of peace.

"And... I want to start by choosing a new name."

He shifted on the sofa, leaning in so their knees almost touched.

"But I don’t want to do it alone," he said.

Ethea blinked, her eyes searching his as if looking for a hidden motive.

"We... We’re married," Soren muttered. "Whatever name I take, you take it too. So it should be something we both want. Something we choose together."

"So... what do you think?"

"..."

Ethea kept her eyes locked on Soren’s expectant gaze, her face a still pool of water that gave nothing away. Countless thoughts passed through her mind in the silence that followed, ranging from the sheer weight of a new identity to the sudden, grounding reality of his proposal.

A quiet warmth eventually blossomed in her chest as the sincerity in his voice reached her. She felt a soft glow of comfort because he was still holding a place for her in his future.

He was offering her a choice when he could have simply made the decision for both of them, and that small gesture of respect meant more than the name itself.

"I... I agree." She replied. "Let’s choose a new name."

"Great!" Soren’s smile widened, his eyes brightening with a spark of genuine energy. He leaned forward, his posture open and eager. "Let’s start brainstorming right away! We can pick anything we want. We just need to find something that feels right to us."

"Let’s see..."

"..." Ethea watched him, a tiny, rare smile finally tugging at the corners of her lips. His enthusiasm was a far cry from the serious, focused man he had to be whenever they left the house. Seeing him so genuinely excited about a future they could actually touch made the lingering tension in her own shoulders finally vanish.

Furthermore, she couldn’t help but feel that same spark of anticipation beginning to stir within her. It was a dizzying sort of freedom, one that made her heart beat just a little faster.

’A name, huh...’

’A name for our own...’

’...family.’