When She Remembered |✔️

Prologue

"Loving you was young, WILD and free..."

and she whispered, "Caleb"

~*~

When Caleb thought of love, he thought of pain.

because love, that was painful.

the way Caleb loved was painful

because he gave it all

unfortunately, loving like Caleb was dangerous

at nineteen Caleb had loved, with everything....

and as a result when she was gone, he changed

Caleb no longer loved with his all

to tell you the truth, Caleb didn't love at all

he'd completely shut himself in and everyone out

and even after five years did he ever stop loving her?

no. how could he.

~*~

F I V E   Y E A R S   P R E V I O U S L Y

July 15 2013

Caleb had woken up alone that morning.

She was gone, no note; no nothing. If Caleb had known better he would have thought she'd never been there at all. Caleb ran his hands through his blonde hair and sunk into the couch in his hotel room, frustrated. He stared at the place where her suitcase used to be, trying to convince himself that his eyes were playing tricks on him that she was
still here and she didn't leave without a goodbye.

Caleb had been falling in love for the past four months and now he felt like he'd finally crash landed and the feeling, hurt like hell. After everything, Caleb couldn't bring himself to believe that she'd just leave him- he had turned his room upside down in search of any note or clue that could lead to her disappearance but he found nothing and four hours later he was in his room staring at her picture.

That picture, it seemed was the only thing that proved of her existence. She'd taken all of her belongings that she had in his room, the picture seemed to be the only thing she left behind in Greece, the only thing she wanted him to have. Caleb suddenly felt angry, he felt confused. He thought he was doing everything right, they had been in a good place for awhile now and Caleb was sure even at nineteen that she, she could be 'it'.

Obviously, he was wrong-

He had no idea, how or why she could just leave like that and for a few months after, he'd anticipated that she'd knock on his door and come back to him.
That didn't happen.
It was only when his father was finally able to get into contact with him that he'd officially given up. He'd flown back to New York where his father owned a multimillion dollar company and was expecting his son to take over but Caleb had made other plans.

He didn't want the business.

He wanted to paint- and she, had convinced him to do that, follow his dream but when his father called offering the job, Caleb was in a low place, he'd been drinking away his sorrows, his heartbreak and painting made him think of her, and she, wasn't here anymore so why was he wasting his time?

After two years, he now owned Hearst Global and was officially one of the youngest millionaires in the county. His father in attempt to create a certain image had set him up with a woman named Daniella who wore too much perfume and push up bras, Caleb didn't love her but wore her on his arm for show, to please his father. The success of his company gained him a lot of attention from the media and as a result, his face was plastered on billboards all over the country.

A tiny piece of his heart hoped that she would see it and think of him, maybe get into contact but she never did reach out. Soon his confusion about why she left turned into anger and he blamed her for everything. He convinced himself he hated her but he didn't, he was just lost-
Daniella had broken up with him when he had intentionally told her she meant nothing to him. His father obviously wasn't pleased but managed to spin the break up into a magazine.

Caleb Hearst was now the youngest single bachelor, but Caleb didn't pay attention to the press. He surrounded himself in work and work only. At twenty three, his father had died from a stroke and at his funeral Caleb hadn't cried, there were too many things left unsaid between them. In the crowd, however, he swore he saw her but his eyes seemed to be playing tricks on him. She wasn't there, Daniella was though.

At twenty five Caleb was still in love, just not with Daniella even though she would have liked him to be. Caleb kept her around to keep him company, to help his loneliness. He still thought of her and he'd shake his head and whisper that she was in his past, that what they had was over but why couldn't he let her go? Why?

Caleb sat in his office and opened his wallet to take out his credit card when his eyes caught sight of the picture now a little wrinkled but still in good shape. He stared at it for awhile, it was five years old now but Caleb remembered it like it was taken yesterday. As a result of what she did to him, Caleb had locked himself up, built walls with a major security system to keep everyone out. He flipped the back of the picture and ran his fingers over her handwriting,

From Georgia,
With love.