At night, Zachary stayed longer, watching Daisy sleep. Her paws twitched with dreams, as though chasing something just out of reach. He imagined she dreamed of them—her cubs, her lost children. He wondered if she blamed him. He wondered if someday she would look at him and see only betrayal.
Meanwhile, the zoo’s popularity waned. Without Daisy and the cubs together, it lost its wonder. Crowds thinned, media moved on. Zachary felt strangely relieved. The less the spectacle, the less the scrutiny. Yet it left a void, too. As though their story, once alive, was now being erased, leaving only ache and silence behind.