The morning sun spilled its golden warmth over the grand estate, illuminating every carefully pruned hedge, polished marble path, and cascading fountain. A lady in her mid twenties stepped out of the sleek black car, her heels clicking softly against the gravel driveway. The sight of the sprawling mansion, unchanged yet somehow foreign after all these years, brought a swirl of emotions she wasn't ready to name.
Her eyes wandered instinctively, taking in the familiar landscape that had been her childhood playground. And then she saw him.
There, near the vibrant rose garden, a man knelt in quiet concentration. His hands, rough and steady, worked deftly to loosen the soil around the roots of a young shrub. The sunlight streamed down, catching the sweat on his brow and glinting off the dark waves of his hair. His shirt clung to his back, damp from the morning's labor, outlining the strong lines of his shoulders.
