"And this is Aiden, my husband," Arwen introduced, and inside the car, Emyr let out a quiet sigh of relief. If she had delayed another second, he feared Cralens might have turned into second Antarctica.

Arwen moved to stand beside Aiden, smiling as she continued, "I was planning to introduce you later to my friends, but since you arrived and Daniel was here, I thought, why not now?"

Aiden eased when he heard her introduce him that way. Extending his hand to Daniel, he said, "Hello, Daniel. Nice to meet you."

Daniel studied Aiden for a moment, trying to recall if they had met before, but the memory seemed vague. "Have we met before?" he asked, and Aiden met his gaze evenly, shaking his head.

"I don''t think so. I have never met any of my wife''s friends before," Aiden glanced briefly at Arwen, then back to Daniel. "But it was nice meeting you. Hopefully, we will meet again soon. For now, we will have to excuse ourselves. The weather is getting chilly, and I don''t want her catching cold."

The way he expressed his concern —so naturally, as if it was his second nature. Daniel glanced between them and nodded."Sure, go ahead. I won''t hold you two back. We will meet again soon anyway."

Aiden gave a small nod and then turned to Arwen. "Shall we, then?"

Arwen nodded, before turning to give Daniel a polite smile. "Take care, and drive safely. I will head back first."

Daniel smiled and nodded to her.

As Daniel watched them walk away, he couldn''t shake off the feeling of familiarity he had felt earlier. While Aiden''s demeanour was friendly, there was an undeniable threat in his gaze that he felt very evidently. It felt like his gentleness was reserved for only Arwen. No one else. His aura, though seemingly gentle, carried a subtle warning that left a lasting impression.

Had he ever met him before? The sense of familiarity was thin, but it surely was there. He felt like he had seen him somewhere, known him from somewhere.

***

Aiden''s expression dimmed a little, but at the same time, he felt there was something amiss. It wasn''t just that she had forgotten him; it seemed she had forgotten everything connected to that time.

But how? And why?

"What are we doing here?" Arwen asked, her attention shifting between Aiden and the stall as if searching for something that was just out of reach in her memory.

Aiden reached out to brush her hand gently, "I thought you might be hungry and would want to eat something. So ..."

"Here?" Arwen raised her brows, clearly taken aback. She had never been allowed to eat from such stalls —her mother had deemed them unhealthy and off-limits, refraining her from eating there, even if she ever begged to let her try once.

Aiden nodded, but he felt a bit odd. "This place used to have the best spicy noodles in the town back. I thought you might want to try them since you like spicy food." He paused before adding, "But if you want to go some somewhere else, we can choose another place that suits your taste and liking."

Her eyes sparkled up with curiosity. "You have eaten here before?"

Aiden smiled faintly, his gaze searching something on her expression. "Yeah, a few times when I was younger. The food was great back then. Not sure if it''s still the same."

Arwen grinned, surprising him. "Then let''s head in and check it out."

Aiden hesitated, "Are you sure?"

She nodded, her smile growing bigger. "My mother never let me try this kind of food, but now that I have the chance, I won''t miss it. Let''s go in."

With that, Arwen was ready to break another one of her mother''s strict rules. Someone has rightly said after the first step, the second and third comes easy.