July 10, 2026, Friday. Outside Taji’s hospital room window, the sharp summer sun streamed down. Ten years ago, the fragments of a bullet lodged in his body had finally made their exit. Emerging from surgery, a sense of liberation washed over him, even through the lingering grogginess. Was he finally shedding the shadows of his past? Yet, a bitter residue clung to a corner of his heart. Bryan. That name always stirred his heart with a complex tremor.