Olivia’s phone buzzed against the table, breaking the moment. She glanced at the screen, and just for a second, Ethan caught something in her expression—hesitation? Worry?
“Everything okay?” he asked.
She exhaled and locked her phone without answering. “Yeah. Just work.”
But Ethan wasn’t convinced. He didn’t push, though. Instead, he leaned back, watching as she ran her fingers over the rim of her coffee cup, lost in thought.
“So, what happens now?” he asked.
Olivia met his gaze, and for the first time since they met, he saw something raw beneath her carefully guarded exterior. “I don’t know.”
A pause.
Then, as if deciding for both of them, she said, “Walk with me?”
They left the café, the morning air crisp and fresh. They wandered through the city streets, past sleepy storefronts and early risers clutching coffee cups. Every now and then, their hands brushed, a silent question neither of them voiced.
Finally, Olivia stopped in front of her hotel. “This is me,” she said softly.
Ethan nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was about to say something—maybe a casual goodbye, maybe something more—when Olivia suddenly took a step closer.
“There’s something I should tell you,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow. “That sounds ominous.”
She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It’s just… This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to stay.”
“And yet, here you are.”
“Yeah,” she whispered.
Ethan searched her face, sensing the war inside her. “Olivia, what is it?”
Her phone buzzed again. This time, she sighed and showed him the screen.
A message. A name.
Alex: Where are you?
Ethan’s stomach tightened. “Alex?”
She nodded, hesitating. “My fiancé.”
Silence.
Ethan took a step back, the weight of that single word sinking in. Fiancé. Everything about the last twelve hours suddenly shifted.
“You’re engaged?” His voice was calm, but underneath, there was something else—something like disbelief, maybe even hurt.
“I was,” Olivia said. “Or… I am. I don’t know anymore.”
Ethan let out a breath, running a hand through his hair. “Wow. Okay.”
“I didn’t plan this,” she said quickly. “I wasn’t even supposed to be here alone. Alex was supposed to come on this trip, but at the last minute, he couldn’t. And then I met you, and—” She stopped, exhaling sharply. “I don’t have an excuse. I just… I didn’t want to be who I was for one night.”
Ethan stared at her for a long moment.
“You should go,” he finally said.
She nodded, swallowing hard. “Yeah.”
She turned toward the hotel, but before she stepped inside, she looked back.
“If things were different…”
Ethan gave her a sad smile. “But they’re not.”
A beat. A breath. And then she was gone.
Ethan stood there for a long time before finally walking away, the city moving on around him as if nothing had happened.
But inside, he knew something had.
And maybe, just maybe, he’d never forget the woman who almost stayed.
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