The winter was growing stronger, a single snowflake making a soft descent from the heavens to join the thick blanket covering the ground. Long pine trees were draped in white, their branches heavy with snow, and high mountains loomed in the distance, partially hidden by the haziness of the cold. Behind those mountains, a cottage could be seen, its roof and surrounding grounds completely covered in snow. The creek that had once flowed with water was now frozen stiff, encased in ice.
In one of the windows of the cottage, a woman stood, her palm resting against the cold frame as she looked out at the winter landscape blanketing the mountainside. White stretched endlessly before her, stirring something deep within her chest.
The entire place felt familiar in a way that hurt her head to remember. It was as if she had walked the rooms of the house and breathed this air before... yet no memories came with it. Only an ache remained whenever she tried to force herself to remember whether this place had been her home once, for it felt so much like it, only half complete in a way she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
She kept her eyes fixed on the view outside despite the cold. Her golden-blonde hair fell down her back in soft waves, spilling over the fluffy white coat she wore, the same coat the man she had woken up to find had given her, along with a few dresses. She had been frightened last night, seeing that stranger standing in the shadows of the room, watching her.
She had been terrified at having not a single memory, not even of her own name, until he told her. Then he had said,
"Don’t worry, Isabelle. I am not here to hurt you, for you are now my forced-to-accept daughter-in-law."
Daughter-in-law? That meant she was married? To whom, and what did he look like? And why wasn’t he here when she had woken up? Those questions swirled through her mind, leaving her even more confused. She had asked him where this husband was, and he had told her she would meet her family soon.
Family. The word sounded warm, but inside her, it only ached painfully, because she didn’t know who they were or what they looked like. At least she would not feel entirely lost if they came to tell her what had happened to her and why she couldn’t remember them.
She didn’t know anything about the life she had lived until now. Her hazel eyes carried the weight of that emptiness, the quiet fear of holding no memories at all. The emptiness was terrifying even now as she waited for this family to arrive and fill in the gaps in her memories.
She wondered what was taking them so long when the person who, she had woken up to see here had told her they would meet her soon.
While she stood before the window, sounds of footsteps suddenly came from behind her.
Belle turned, startled, and froze at the same time at what she saw.
A man stepped into the room, his tall frame filling the doorway. A baby was secured against his chest in a sling, arms tucked close, while another boy stood just beside him, holding tightly onto his hand. The sight of them made her heart skip a sudden beat.
Belle’s eyes took them in slowly. The man was tall, with unusually blue hair that fell down his shoulders. He wore a brown, knee-length coat with the collar up and sleeves rolled, one gloved hand pressed flat at the baby’s back, supporting it, while the other gloved hand held the boy’s small hand.
The man’s presence filled the entire room at once, and he stared at her without blinking with those pure black eyes, just as she stared back at him In curiousity.
His eyes were like storms, dark, intense, fixed on her in a way that made her feel suddenly warm and flushed.
Her fingers tightened nervously around the edges of her coat as she stood there, not knowing what to do or say. Were these people... her family? Her gaze shifted to the boy, whose shimmering dark eyes were already filled with tears. Something about their presence made her heart twist with unease, and a longing she could not name.
The silence between them grew so heavy she could hear the howling wind outside.
"Hello," Belle said finally, her voice soft and unsure. She tried a small smile. "I was told my family will come and meet me here..."
She didn’t get to finish, though, or introduce herself properly.


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