31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtkLifVpLu
It was raining again.
Not the dramatic kind, like storms in movies.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOf1WSabJPD
Just a persistent drizzle, soft and dull, like a background noise they had both learned to ignore — just like their issues, once upon a time.
Colleen sat across from him in a dim café, hands wrapped around a mug she hadn’t sipped.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQlvWf5qjE
No more candles. No pretense.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqsmq8TH7h
Just two people, tired of carrying ghosts.
Andrei looked older. Or maybe just heavier — the kind of weight that didn’t show on the scale but in the eyes.
“I owe you everything I didn’t say,” he began. “Not the lies. The truths I kept locked up.”
She nodded, almost imperceptibly.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7E2HbUeJz
She was ready.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBA7YcI7ra
Not to forgive, maybe not even to understand.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYb5Xhq5hg
But to listen. One last time.
Why He Did It
“I loved you,” he said. “God, I still do. But somewhere along the way, I started loving how you saw me more than how I actually was.”
He took a breath.
“You thought I was good. Thought I was solid. That I wouldn’t fail you. I was scared of cracking that version of me. So I lied… not to hurt you, but to protect your illusion of me.”
She blinked. Once. Twice.
“But the affair—”
“It wasn’t love,” he cut in quickly. “It wasn’t even lust. It was… escape. From myself, from this pressure I put on myself to be perfect for you.”
Her hands trembled around the mug.
“So you betrayed me to save your ego,” she said, voice flat.
He didn’t deny it.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekb6Z1XjTC
Didn’t soften it.
“Yes.”
The honesty stung more than the lies.
She Cries, But Not for Him
Colleen didn’t break. Not in a loud way.
No sobs. No raised voice. No accusations.
Just a single tear, rolling down a cheek too tired to wipe it away.
“I’m not crying for you,” she whispered. “I’m crying for us. For what we let rot because neither of us knew how to ask for help.”
He bowed his head.
“We didn’t fight for us,” she continued. “We fought to look like we were fine. And we both lost.”
He looked up at her.
“I don’t expect you to come back,” he said. “But I needed to tell you everything. Because if I’m going to rebuild myself… I need to start with the truth.”
The Quiet End of Something
They walked out into the drizzle side by side.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1v8YFX3NeM
No umbrella. No touching.
Just the wet sound of goodbye without saying the word.
Colleen turned to him as they reached the corner.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevuhxuGHid
“I hope you heal, Andrei. Truly. But I’m not the prize at the end of that healing.”
He nodded, accepting it not with grace — but with the maturity he never had when she needed it.
Then she walked away.
Andrei stood in the rain.31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWN3Ihx3npP
Alone, but no longer hiding.
And somewhere inside him, the version of himself he buried for love — for pride — began to stir.
ns216.73.216.82da2
