The soft glow of the gaming monitors reflected across Enzo’s face as rapid gunshots echoed through the room.
His fingers moved effortlessly over the keyboard, completely focused on the match playing on-screen.
A half-finished cup of coffee rested beside him, steam still rising faintly from it.
His damp hair clung slightly to his forehead, tiny droplets of water trailing down his neck, making it obvious he had showered only minutes ago.
Dressed casually in a loose grey t-shirt and dark pants, he leaned back slightly in his chair, headphones covering his ears as the game consumed all of his attention.
Then-
The door slammed open.
Enzo flinched instantly.
His hand paused mid-movement before he quickly pulled one side of the headphones off and turned his head.
“Elise?”
She stood near the doorway, breathing unevenly.
Something about her expression immediately made the smile on his face disappear.
“What happened?” he asked, removing the headphones completely.
But Elise didn’t answer.
She just stared at him.
One hand pressed tightly against her chest as if she was trying to steady her breathing.
Her eyes looked restless…
almost terrified.
Enzo slowly turned off the game.
The sudden silence in the room felt heavy.
He stood up from the chair carefully.
“Hey… is everything okay?”
Still nothing.
Elise kept staring at him like she was trying to confirm something impossible.
Like she didn’t trust what she was seeing.
And then, after what felt like forever-
“…Am I in Versailles?” she finally whispered.
Enzo blinked.
“What?”
Her voice cracked slightly this time.
“Tell me the truth.”
A strange look crossed his face before he let out a short nervous laugh.
“You seriously scared me,” he muttered softly, running a hand through his wet hair.
But Elise suddenly stepped closer.
“Don’t avoid the question.”
The tension in her voice made him stop moving completely.
She grabbed his shoulders firmly, forcing him to look directly at her.
“Answer me.”
For the first time since she entered the room-
His calm expression faltered.
Only slightly.
But Elise noticed it immediately.
And somehow…
That scared her even more.
“How would I know?” Enzo replied in a sad tone.
Elise looked at him confused.
“What do you mean you don’t know? Just say it clearly… did you kidnap me?” she asked curiously.
“No,” Enzo replied calmly.
“I did not kidnap you.”
“Then why am I here?” she asked immediately.
“You are here because you wanted to be here. Neither did we force you… nor can we.”
His voice remained calm as usual.
Soft.
Mesmerizing.
The atmosphere itself felt quieter while he spoke.
And somehow, hearing him was enough to make Elise slowly trust his words.
After a couple of minutes, Elise spoke again.
“I wanted to be here…?” she questioned herself quietly.
Then suddenly she stood up, wiping her tears aggressively.
“No. No, I am here to save my boyfriend,” she said, her voice shaking.
“And you are not letting me go. You are not letting me find him.”
Her patience was slowly breaking.
“I don’t know where he is… I don’t know how he is…” her voice cracked badly.
“I miss him so much. I just want to see him…”
Before Enzo could say anything, she slowly dropped down onto the floor.
And cried.
Not softly.
Completely.
Enzo stayed silent, watching her carefully.
He didn’t like seeing her like this in front of him.
He could clearly see her fear.
Her desperation.
Her love for Joe.
But to him…
It all felt like an illusion.
“Relax…” he said softly, stepping closer.
“I can’t,” Elise cried immediately.
“Please help me find him.”
She joined her hands together desperately.
“Please… please…”
“Don’t do this,” Enzo said quietly, immediately making her stand up.
He carefully guided her toward the sofa and made her sit down.
Then he handed her a glass of water, trying to calm her down.
But Elise kept crying like a child.
And even though Enzo remained calm outside-
Still…
He let her cry.
After almost fifteen minutes of shedding tears, Elise finally stopped crying.
She quietly picked up a few tissues and cleaned her face slowly.
Her cheeks had turned completely red, and her eyes still looked swollen from crying so much.
Her breathing had finally become normal again.
“I don’t even know you…” she complained softly while wiping the remaining tears from her face.
Enzo blinked once before suddenly standing up.
“Oh… sorry,” he said awkwardly.
“I was so disturbed that I completely forgot the self-introduction.”
Elise looked at him quietly.
“I’m Enzo,” he said calmly.
“I’m twenty-five years old.
I completed my master’s in Political Science.
I love playing games, sports, and…” he paused for a second before adding casually, “I’m single.”
Elise suddenly laughed a little at the last sentence.
A very small laugh.
But enough.
And seeing her smile for the first time made something soften inside Enzo.
Finally…
you laughed.
The thought stayed quietly in his heart.
After a few moments of silence, Elise looked at him again.
“Can you help me find my boyfriend?” she asked softly.
“Yes,” Enzo replied immediately, just to make her feel okay again.
But deep down-
Reality was completely different.
No one in this city had the ability to find him.
Only one person could.
____________________________________
The president was still working.
Files covered the large desk in front of him, while the dim light of the office quietly reflected against the glass walls around him.
He looked tired.
Exhausted, actually.
But even then, he kept working.
Because he knew the moment he stopped-
The memories would return again.
The past.
The sweet moments.
The bitter moments.
Everything he had buried under endless work would slowly surround him again.
Yes, he could forget them if he truly wanted to.
But deep down-
He didn’t want to forget.
The secretary knocked on the door softly before stepping inside.
“Sir… you should rest now,” he said carefully.
The president only nodded silently.
The secretary walked forward and collected all the files from his hands before neatly placing them back onto the table.
“Shall I bring coffee, sir?” the secretary asked politely.
The president stayed quiet for a second.
Then he shook his head lightly.
“Do you want anything else?” the secretary asked again.
The president slowly looked toward him.
And somewhere deep inside his heart-
Yes.
I want her.
But instead, he simply said,
“Nothing. You may leave.”
The secretary bowed slightly before leaving the office.
As soon as the door closed-
The room filled with unbearable silence once again.
The president stayed still for a few seconds.
Then suddenly, he grabbed his car keys and walked outside.
After a while, he stopped at a gas station.
Empty.
Silent.
Almost abandoned.
The place looked haunted under the dim night sky, carrying a strange loneliness within it.
Even the cold air around the station felt heavy with sadness and bitter memories from the past.
He slowly stepped out of the car and sat down on the old bench beneath a huge tree nearby.
Dry leaves kept falling around him quietly.
One after another.
Like memories falling from the mind straight into the heart.
Near the diesel area, faint blood stains were still visible on the ground.
The sight alone made his chest feel heavy again.
Slowly, he pulled out his phone.
The moment the screen lit up-
Everything around him disappeared.
She.
Her picture was still his wallpaper.
His fingers gently touched the screen, almost carefully, as if he was afraid of losing her again.
His eyes slowly filled with tears.
A single tear escaped and fell directly onto the wallpaper.
He quickly wiped his eyes, wanting to admire her a little longer.
Her white floral frock.
Her ponytail.
The earrings gifted by him.
And the small cat plushie she always carried- also gifted by him.
She was everything to him.
His life.
His memories.
His feelings.
Everything in his world belonged only to her.
And the day he lost her-
He lost everyone.
Everything.
Even though he was the President of France…
Deep down-
He was still the loneliest man in the country.
“I will wait for you… until the end of time,” he whispered softly while caressing her face on the wallpaper with his thumb.
His eyes stayed fixed on the screen for a few more seconds.
On her smile.
On their past.
On the memories that still refused to leave him alone.
Then slowly, he locked the phone.
He stood up from the bench quietly, the cold wind brushing past him as dry leaves continued falling around the empty gas station.
And without looking back again-
He walked toward his car and drove back home.
___________________________________
“How could you lose her?!”
The man’s furious voice echoed through the dark space station.
Red emergency lights flickered across the metallic walls while endless darkness stretched outside the glass windows like a giant black hole swallowing everything around it.
Bandages were wrapped tightly around his left shoulder, slightly stained with blood beneath the fabric.
He looked furious.
Completely furious.
In front of him stood another man, much younger-probably around twenty years old.
He had soft features, messy hair, and fearful eyes that refused to look up.
Instead, he nervously played with his fingers while staring at the floor.
“I-I was just-” his voice shook badly with fear.
“I went to the market to bring some food…”
The older man suddenly slammed his fist against the table.
“She will kill you!” he screamed.
The young man flinched instantly.
The older man grabbed his own hair in frustration, breathing heavily.
“We have to catch her,” he muttered almost to himself.
“Otherwise we’re finished.”
Fear filled the room immediately.
The younger man quickly sat in front of the laptop and started searching for Elise’s location desperately.
His fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard.
Tracking systems.
Maps.
Signals.
Nothing worked.
Nothing.
“She’s not appearing anywhere…” the young man whispered nervously.
“It’s like… she disappeared completely.”
“No,” the older man said immediately.
His voice turned cold.
“She can’t disappear.”
The young man slowly looked up at him.
The older man’s jaw tightened as he stared at the flickering screen.
“Time itself won’t allow her to disappear now.”
Silence filled the station again.
Only the sound of the broken systems and the laptop running endlessly could be heard.
The young man swallowed nervously.
“Then… where is she?”
The older man slowly stepped toward the giant glass window facing the darkness of space.
His reflection stared back at him.
Broken.
Tired.
Obsessed.
“She’s moving exactly where time wants her to move,” he whispered quietly.
The young man’s fingers froze above the keyboard.
“And once she remembers everything…”
The older man stopped speaking.
For the first time-
Fear appeared in his eyes too.
“Who is she?” the young man finally asked quietly, unable to hold back his curiosity anymore.
“Why is the entire country waiting for her?”
His nervous eyes shifted toward the older man again.
“And why is she so special?”
For a few seconds, the older man stayed silent while staring endlessly into the darkness outside the station.
Then finally-
He spoke.
“Only time knows who she really is.”
____________________________________
Everyone is asking who Elise is.
But perhaps the real question is— What will happen when she remembers who she was?
See you in the next chapter.
— Shayarasehar11