Another year and a half had passed, and Selene Mondiego found herself juggling more than she ever imagined. East City was no longer her sole domain. The expansion to West City, a project once just a series of lines on her blueprint table, had finally come to life. From towering commercial complexes to riverside recreational hubs, it was now a thriving testament to her vision—and her family's reach.
But with the completion of the West City developments came new responsibilities.
Originally, her brother Hunter was supposed to take the lead there. Having recently married his childhood sweetheart, the now-famous Dr. Angel Foster, he was expected to manage the business operations in West City while she maintained Eastpoint Blueprint and Beyond in the east. But life had a different plan.
Angel’s pregnancy had taken a complicated turn, and with the doctors advising reduced stress and maximum care, Hunter couldn’t bring himself to leave her side. Selene understood. Family came first. Always.
And so, the weight fell to her once again.
“You’ll only oversee until Angel stabilizes,” Kian had told her over a virtual meeting. “Just help us keep it running until Hunter can come in full-time.”
Of course, she said yes.
It meant flying between East and West Cities almost weekly. Board meetings, investor conferences, on-site inspections—it was a constant whirlwind. But Selene was no stranger to pressure. What she didn’t expect was how deeply it would pull her away from her own company.
At Eastpoint Blueprint and Beyond, her presence was still felt, but no longer seen every day. She had always prided herself on knowing each employee, from the senior architects to the interns fresh from university. Now, her once-daily coffee rounds turned into weekly video memos. She delegated more to her top executives, particularly Camilla—her right hand—who handled the daily grind with loyalty and precision.
Still, Selene made it a point never to lose sight of the people depending on her. More than a hundred employees—engineers, architects, designers, project managers, and admin staff—all had livelihoods tied to the projects she led and signed off on. Every contract mattered. Every design was her responsibility. Even if she was miles away, she reviewed each major plan during late-night flights or early mornings at hotel desks.
Yet, in the quiet hours between obligations, she felt the strain.
She missed sketching freely at her own drafting table. Missed watching the sunrise from her office balcony in East City. Missed the easy rhythm of life before she had to divide herself across two thriving cities. And more than anything, she missed peace of mind.
Selene often found herself standing alone at hotel windows, looking out at yet another skyline shaped by her hands, wondering if this was what she always wanted—or what she had simply become good at enduring.
Hunter would sometimes call late at night from Southbay. 
“I owe you one, Sis” he’d say guiltily.
“You owe me nothing,” she would reply with a soft smile. “Just take care of Angel and the baby. That’s what matters.”
Family mattered. It always had.
But even as the Mondiego Empire expanded and her company grew in stature, something else continued to weigh on her. A constant ache tucked away in a corner of her heart. That ring she still carried in her purse, untouched but never discarded. That promise made under the sunset at a crowded mall terrace. The kiss that still lingered in her memory.
Sebastian.
Not once had they crossed paths since graduation. No news. No sightings. Even after their rise in society, their circles had never intersected again. Sometimes she thought about asking Kian to look into him, but she always stopped herself. If he wanted to find her, he would. If he wanted to know the truth—he could.
Perhaps he already did.
And maybe that was why he stayed away.
But there were moments—quiet, piercing moments—when she would step into a room, walk through a plaza, or hear a familiar voice in a crowd and swear he was there. Only to realize it was just memory playing tricks.
She shook the thoughts away.
Today was a busy one. She had three meetings scheduled at the West City headquarters, including one with a foreign investor group interested in building a science park and innovation hub. After that, she’d fly back to East City in time for the weekend review at Eastpoint.
Selene adjusted the buttons on her coat and reached for her work tablet.
The ring box sat in her bag, untouched.
Despite the exhaustion and the quiet ache, she pressed on. Because that's who she was—a Mondiego, a visionary, and above all, a woman who built a life of substance even through heartbreak.
And no matter how scattered her world became, she held tightly to the foundation she laid, the people she led, and the future she continued to build—brick by brick, dream by dream.
Because even if the heart wandered, the hands kept working.
And in a world filled with towers, blueprints, and business, Selene hoped that maybe—just maybe—one day, her path would cross again with the one man who still held the other half of her promise.