"Okay, so let me get this straight," Mira said, raising an eyebrow over her coffee cup. "He vanishes, lies, pushes you away for months — and now he's back? With breakfast and cute mirror notes?"
Eleena stared at the small circle of friends around the café table, their eyes sharp with concern. Mira, bold and fiercely protective. Janie, soft-spoken but quietly judging. And Theo, the only guy in their group, watching her with that same sad sympathy she hated seeing on anyone's face.
"I'm not saying it's fixed," Eleena said, her voice low. "I'm saying… he's trying. And I see the effort."
"Effort doesn't undo damage," Mira replied. "Effort doesn't erase all the nights you cried into your pillow wondering why you weren't enough."
"Mira…" Janie murmured.
"No," Mira snapped. "I'm tired of watching her bleed for a man who only shows up when he's afraid of losing her."
Eleena looked down at her hands. Her heart ached — not because they were wrong, but because they were right in ways she didn't want to admit.
"I know what you all saw," she whispered. "But you didn't see the quiet nights. The way he used to look at me like I was his entire world. The way he held me when my dad passed, like he could carry the grief for me. I didn't stay because I was weak. I stayed because once, he made me feel stronger than I ever had."
Silence fell over the table. Even Mira didn't speak.
"I'm not asking any of you to understand," Eleena continued, eyes still fixed on her coffee. "I just need to know for myself if this man — the one he is now — is worth fighting for. Not for who he was. But for who he's becoming."
Theo finally spoke, quiet but steady. "And what if he's not?"
Eleena looked up. Her voice didn't waver this time.
"Then I'll walk away. But not with regret. Because I gave him the same grace I'd want someone to give me — a chance to grow."
Mira leaned back, expression unreadable. "Just don't forget that your loyalty is a gift. And not everyone deserves to unwrap it twice."
"I won't," Eleena said, more to herself than to them.
That night, back in her apartment, she sat at her window watching the rain.
Jace texted: "Thinking about you. Let me know when you're free to talk."
She stared at the screen, her chest full of both hope and warning. The people who loved her were scared she was falling back into the fire.
But Eleena wasn't the same girl who stood in the storm waiting to be saved.
Now, if she stood in it again — it would be by choice.