After a few minutes of driving, Kalix glanced over and noticed the untouched cake box still resting on her lap.
"Why aren't you eating it?" he asked softly, genuinely confused.
A small crease formed between his brows. Did I get it wrong? Was it not the one she wanted?
She looked at him and smiled gently, that kind of soft smile that hides a thousand thoughts.
"I promised to play with the little one when we get back," she said, her voice almost a whisper. "So… I'll eat it with him."
Her tone was so simple, so full of quiet warmth.
He didn't say anything. Just turned his gaze forward again… but his mind wasn't in the car anymore.
It drifted back—to that day.
The snow.
The cliff.
The wind howling like a warning.
He remembered how she stood there, far too close to the edge. Her frame looked small against the vast, frozen mountains. And even though he was collapsing, breath shallow, vision blurring—he knew.
He knew she hadn't come there for a walk. She had come to leave everything behind.
But then she saw him.
Falling.
Dying.
And without hesitation, she chose to save him.
When he opened his eyes again, she was there. Crying. Holding onto him like his life meant more than her own.
That image never left him.
He spent an entire year trying to find that girl. Not knowing her name, not knowing where to start—just remembering that face, those eyes full of pain and love at the same time.
And when she finally stood in front of him again, alive and breathing…
He exhaled.
For the first time in a year, he felt like something inside him had been put back in place. Like the story wasn't over. Like she was meant to be here—alive.
And by his side.