achievement.
Contribution after contribution.
Success after success.
The room celebrated them.
Daniel simply stared.
Because for thirty years he had convinced himself he escaped responsibility.
Now he was forced to watch what he had abandoned.
Not failures.
Not burdens.
Not scandals.
Five remarkable human beings.
And none of them needed him.
When the ceremony ended, they approached our table.
One by one.
Ava first.
Then Marcus.
Then Leah.
Then Sophia.
Then Noah.
Daniel looked at them as though seeing ghosts.
His ghosts.
The lives he missed.
The birthdays.
Graduations.
First
