Viya's POV
When I saw that photo of myself—grinning wildly at the camera, eyes bright as stars—my entire body went rigid.
Because I knew better than anyone.
Back then, I hadn't been looking at the camera at all.
I'd been looking at the person *holding* the camera.
At Caesar.
These years I'd spent carefully moving forward alone seemed to have taken so much away, letting so many things fade gradually with time.
But some things—the slightest reminder brought them crashing back like a tidal wave.
Those moments that belonged to us, the scenes from that birthday—they all played in my mind like a film in slow motion, frame by frame.
I remembered standing in front of my cake, eyes closed seriously and devoutly, making my wish out loud to the Moon Goddess: "Viya hopes s
