The silence enveloping their table was louder than any scream. Kael's confession hung in the air like a dark cloud, pouring down a bitter rain of truth upon both of them. Elara looked at the man before her—the man who had just admitted that his life for ten years had been a pretense built on her shadow. The guilt was so dense it almost made her nauseous.
"Kael..." Elara's voice finally broke the silence, hoarse and almost inaudible. "We... we can't."
Kael lifted his face, his red, wet eyes staring at her with shattered hope. It made Elara's heart ache even more.
"Doing this... sitting here, after everything you've just said..." Elara took a deep breath, gathering the last fragments of her strength. "Seeing you broken like this—and knowing I am the root of your destruction—it... it hurts more than the pain I felt when I left you all those years ago."
"So, what are you suggesting?" Kael asked, his voice flat, as if he already knew the answer. "Are we going to do the same thing all over again? Run away?"
"It's not running away," Elara countered, with a sudden surge of conviction. This was a decision that had to be made, for both of them, and for the innocent people around them. "This is the only way to save what's left of us, of the beautiful memories we once had. And... to save Clara. And David." She looked at him deeply. "They weren't part of our foolish choices ten years ago. They don't deserve to face the consequences now."
Kael closed his eyes, as if bracing against a whip. He knew Elara was right. He knew logic was on her side. But the heart is a stubborn creature.
"How am I supposed to go on after this, El?" he whispered, full of despair. "After finding you again, after knowing your feelings haven't completely died?"
"I don't know," Elara answered honestly, tears streaming again. "But we have to try. For Bimo. For Alisha. We owe them that."
She stood up, her body unsteady. Kael also rose, his face ashen. They stood facing each other in the now almost-empty cafe, as if the entire universe was witnessing their second goodbye.
"Hold me," Elara requested, her voice trembling. "One last time. Let me remember what it feels like... to come home."
Without hesitation, Kael pulled her into his embrace. The hug was different. It wasn't filled with the passion of their youth, nor was it comfortable. This hug was filled with pain, regret, and a final "goodbye." They stood locked in that tight embrace, as if trying to memorize deeply the feel, the warmth, and the burden of each other, to sustain them for the rest of their lives that must be lived apart.
After a moment that felt both eternal and fleeting, they released the embrace. No more words needed to be said. Everything had been laid bare. Kael nodded slowly, his eyes conveying a sorrowful understanding. Elara returned the nod, then turned and walked out of the cafe without looking back.
She walked along the sidewalk, the afternoon sun shining on her wet face. It felt as if she had just left half her soul on that cafe chair. But for the first time in weeks, her mind was clear. This was wrong, but it was a wrong that had to be paid for with honesty—the honesty of not continuing a bigger lie.
Arriving home, David was waiting in the living room.
"Dav? You're back?" he greeted, his face bright. "How was your day out? Are you feeling better?"
Elara looked at her husband. Her good husband, who always gave her everything, except the truth about her heart. She smiled, a small, genuine smile veiled in sadness.
"Yes, Darling," she replied, her voice soft. She stepped closer and hugged David. In that embrace, she made a promise to herself to try, with all the shattered pieces of her heart, to become a wife worthy of this good man.
"I feel much better," she said, completing her first deliberate lie, while feeling a piece of her heart forever lost, left behind in that final embrace with Kael.