I tried to act normal after that.
Tried to reply his texts like nothing had shifted inside me. Tried to laugh at his jokes. Tried not to picture her hand on his arm.
I failed.
Two days later, I ran into him again. This time, I wasn't alone.
She was there.
We were outside the café, the same one from before. I was already turning to leave when I heard his voice.
"Mira."
I stopped.
He walked up to me, looking… nervous. I'd never seen him like that.
"There's someone I want you to meet," he said.
My heart dropped.
She stepped forward before I could answer.
She was pretty. Not loud-pretty. Soft-pretty. The kind of pretty that doesn't need effort. Her hair was pulled back casually. Her smile was polite, but her eyes were sharp. Curious.
"This is Lena," Ethan said. "We… go way back."
Lena smiled at me. "You're Mira."
Not a question.
"Yeah," I replied. "And you are?"
Her smile widened just a little. "Someone who used to know him before the world got complicated."
Ethan cleared his throat. "Lena just moved back."
"Temporarily," she added quickly, glancing at him. "I think."
That word stuck. Think.
We stood there awkwardly, like three people pretending nothing was wrong while everything was.
"So," Lena said, folding her arms lightly. "How did you two meet?"
"By accident," I said.
Ethan nodded. "Literally."
She laughed. "Funny how accidents change things."
I didn't like the way she said it. Like she already knew something I didn't.
After a few minutes, she checked her phone. "I should go. Ethan, we'll talk later."
She hugged him.
Not long. Not tight.
But familiar.
Then she looked at me again. "Nice meeting you, Mira."
"Same," I lied.
When she left, silence fell between us.
"You didn't have to do that," I said finally.
"Do what?"
"Introduce us like that. Like it was nothing."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't want it to feel like I was hiding something."
I looked at him. Really looked.
"Are you?"
He hesitated.
Just for a second.
But that second said everything.
"I don't know what she wants yet," he said quietly. "But she matters. She always has."
There it was.
I nodded slowly. "Okay."
"That's it?" he asked. "Okay?"
"What else should I say?" I replied. "You're allowed to have a past."
He reached for my hand, then stopped himself halfway.
"But I don't want that past," he said. "I want… now."
I wanted to believe him.
God, I really did.
But later that night, when I opened social media, something made my chest tighten.
A photo.
Lena had posted it.
Her and Ethan. Old picture. Laughing. Close.
The caption read:
Some connections never really fade.
I stared at the screen until my eyes burned.
Because suddenly, I wasn't sure if I was his present…
Or just the space between what he lost
and what he wasn't ready to let go of.