---
Days slipped past like feathers caught on a summer breeze.
Sophia was consumed—not by fear or sadness, but by a purpose that breathed life into her veins. Her veterinary practice had blossomed faster than anyone expected, her schedule brimming with appointments, her days filled with the soft noses of puppies, the grateful gazes of rescued animals, and the warm gratitude of their owners.
Each morning, she woke before sunrise, tending to creatures who, like her, had once been abandoned or broken. She hardly noticed time passing; she hardly noticed anything but the pure, steady heartbeat of a life she had built for herself.
But Lucius noticed.
He watched from the sidelines with a love so fierce, so deep, it was almost too big for his chest. Sophia was glowing. Not with magic, not with battle-scarred bravery, but with real happiness. She had no idea what day it was. She had no idea what was coming.
And he planned to make sure she never forgot it.
---
The morning of that day, Sophia had tumbled out of bed, her hair a wild mess, dragging on one boot and grabbing a bagel with her teeth as she raced toward her little clinic.
"You're forgetting something!" Crystal called after her, barely hiding her smirk.
Sophia shouted back, crumbs flying, "No time! Emergency surgery scheduled!"
Kai, sitting on the kitchen counter like the oversized child he was, whistled low. "Poor girl doesn't even know what today is."
Lucius just smiled—the kind of smile that reached all the way to his soul.
He had been planning this day for months. And tonight, she would know. She would know everything.
---
The day was chaotic in the most beautiful ways.
At the clinic, Sophia helped a little girl say goodbye to her elderly cat, tears slipping down both their faces. She performed a miraculous surgery on a golden retriever hit by a car. She even rescued a stray kitten stuck in a drainpipe, climbing down herself when no one else dared. Her scrubs were ruined; her hair was half undone; there was a smudge of something unidentifiable on her cheek.
But her heart was full.
At lunchtime, Crystal and Kai swung by the clinic with food. Sophia barely noticed Crystal sneaking around, checking things. Or Kai trying to distract her with terrible jokes.
They weren't just visiting. They were stalling.
Because back at the estate, Lucius had transformed the entire grounds into something out of a fairytale.
Thousands of fairy lights twinkled like bottled stars. Lanterns floated lazily in the reflecting pools. A long table was set under the massive oak trees, covered in white linens and bursting with soft pink roses—Sophia’s favorite. Musicians tuned their instruments under the glass dome.
And at the center of it all was something far more precious: a small, raised platform surrounded by candles in the shape of a heart.
Lucius stood surveying it all, his heart hammering in his chest. Tonight wasn’t just about celebrating her birthday.
It was about forever.
---
Sophia didn’t notice the time slipping past.
Not until Crystal burst into the clinic at dusk, breathless.
"You have an emergency," Crystal gasped dramatically. "At the estate. A rare bird. Injured. It's urgent."
YOU ARE READING
SMITTEN BY HER (unedited)
Romance"Beyond Shadows" In a world where darkness whispers secrets and power knows no bounds, a young orphan's dreams of becoming a veterinarian are crushed by the cruel betrayal of her own blood. Sold into an unforgiving fate, she finds herself in the eni...
