(From Kael's Perspective)
I am a coward wearing an Armani suit.
That was my first thought when I saw her. Across the crowd of glittering important people, stood Elara. Time stopped. Ten years vanished in an instant. She was the same, yet different. More graceful, more poised, like a pearl that had been polished into a perfect jewel. And in my chest, a time bomb I thought had died, started ticking again.
The First Meeting: The Gala.
I already knew.I knew she was David's wife. My good friend. That's why I never looked. Knowing she was happy—or at least, safe—with him, was enough. Or so I lied to myself.
When her eyes found mine,all my defenses crumbled. "Elara." Her name on my tongue tasted like home. Our conversation was awkward, filled with unspoken things. I saw her fluster when David called. The stiffness in her shoulders, her stammering voice. She was still there. The girl I once knew was still hiding behind that perfect wife.
Then David came.Seeing him approach Elara with such a natural, possessive stance felt like being stabbed. And when David exclaimed, "Kael! Old friend!", the irony was so bitter. Yes, I was the old friend. But I was also the architect of the nightmare that would one day ruin this friendship. When I said, "We have known each other for quite some time," it was the only truth I could utter in an ocean of lies.
The Second Meeting: The Supermarket.
I was shopping with Bimo,trying to be a good father. Then, the universe played its game again. She was there, alone, looking fragile among the aisles full of food. Seeing her like that, my instinct to protect her flared. When her eyes locked with mine, in that brightly lit aisle, there was nowhere for me to hide.
Bimo,innocently, asked, "Daddy, who is that?" I answered, "Daddy's friend." It was the cruelest simplification of my life. She wasn't just a friend. She was the alternate universe I almost had. Watching her leave, hearing Bimo ask why Daddy's friend was sad, I knew this wasn't a coincidence. It was a test.
The Third Meeting: The Cafe. The Beginning and The End.
I didn't find her by accident.Or perhaps her soul guided me there. She sat alone, like a melancholic painting. I couldn't help but approach. Telling the truth was a necessity. "I missed you too, Elara." Saying it felt like lifting a weight I'd carried for ten years.
And she responded.Her hand, her tears, her embrace. It was a redemption. For that one hour, I felt whole for the first time since she left. I poured my heart out, all the falseness in my marriage, all her shadows that haunted me. I gave her my most broken self.
But then, she took it, and with a strength I didn't know she possessed, she gave it back.
"We can't."
Her words were like a cold, precise scalpel. She spoke of responsibility, of Clara, David, Bimo, Alisha. She spoke of saving the memories. And she was right. I knew she was right. But, God, the truth felt so cruel.
That final hug. I held her as if the air would stop flowing after this. I breathed her in, felt her heartbeat, tried to carve it into my muscle memory. This is forever, Kael, I told myself. This is the real end.
She left without looking back. I was left alone in the cafe, with my second destruction. It hurt more than the first, because this time, we said goodbye with our eyes wide open.
Now, I stand in the hallway of my own home. Clara smiles at me from the couch, asking if I had a good day. Bimo runs and hugs my legs.
"I'm fine," I say, lifting Bimo and kissing him.
It was the perfect lie. I will put the mask back on. The mask of the good husband and father. But this time, the mask will be heavier, because beneath it, lies a priceless treasure and wound: the truth that she still loved me, and we chose to part because of it.
I will live with the ghost of Elara in my hallway, in every fake smile, in every hug I give my wife. She is the shadow that will forever follow me, a beautiful and sad symphony of what could have been, but will never be.