CHAPTER QUOTE
"Some friendships are built on secrets. Others survive in spite of them." —-
The sky over the city was beginning to blush with the golden hues of late afternoon, casting shadows on sidewalks where hurried feet had once walked in sync. It had been weeks since Nina and Amara had truly spoken—really spoken, without tension or glances filled with unspoken things.
Nina stood outside the café Amara once dragged her to on sleepless nights, wearing a simple white blouse and denim jeans. Her heart drummed softly in her chest—not from nerves, but something gentler. A longing, maybe. A hunger for a bond once thicker than any bloodline.
Amara arrived late, as usual, with her headphones dangling from her neck and her brows furrowed like the world owed her clarity. She looked at Nina. Paused. Then sat across from her.
Silence stretched.
"Hi," Nina whispered.
"Hi," Amara replied, voice low.
Then—an unexpected laugh escaped them both.
Like that, the invisible glass shattered.
They talked. For hours.
They went from lattes to lemonade, from surface chatter to soul-worn truths. Nina confessed everything: how meeting Kellan had been like finding color again after grayscale days. How he made her laugh without trying, how he called her Storm because she was chaos in a pretty dress. And how it felt like her heart was, finally, beginning to choose someone not haunted by shadows.
Amara listened. Smiled at times. Laughed, genuinely, at others. But inside, her own mind flickered—Leo told me. She doesn't know. She still doesn't know… And still, she said nothing. Not yet. She told herself she was protecting her.
Nina paused mid-sentence, noticing Amara's distant gaze. "What's up?"
"Nothing," Amara lied with a practiced smile. "I'm just happy to see you glowing again. It's been a while."
Elsewhere, Leo sat alone in his apartment, staring at an unopened message from Nina that she had sent two weeks ago. He didn't open it.
He didn't need to.
It was time to let go.
For the first time in months, he found peace in the idea of loving Amara fully, without guilt, without ghosts between them. He owed Nina distance. Not affection. Not secrets. Just space to become whoever she needed to be.
And that, he decided, would be his final gift to her.
—Nina's
"Amara feels like home again. I missed this. I missed us. And Kellan? He makes me feel like I don't need to carry every weight alone. I think I'm learning to breathe again… to choose something lighter. Maybe I was never meant to hold on to Leo. Maybe I was only meant to learn to let go."
—Amara's
"She's glowing again. But every time she looks at me, I feel like I'm lying with my smile. Leo told me the truth, and it burns not to say it. But not now. Not yet. She's healing. I won't take that away from her."
—Leo's
"I opened my hands, and the past flew out of them. It hurts… but it's right. I loved her. I still do, maybe. But not like before. It's time for Amara. And it's time for Nina to fly."
—Kellan's
"I haven't known her long, but I feel like I've waited forever. Nina's laugh is addictive. Her eyes? Heavy with old stories. But I'll take her exactly as she is. Broken. Beautiful. Brave."
FADES OUT