The consideration.
The restraint.
And something inside me tightens.
He looks back at me.
“Or is this about the fact that I moved on?” he adds, quieter now, sharper. “With someone… like you?”
There’s a pause.
Then, almost mockingly?—
“‘Someone Like You,’ right?” he says, a corner of his mouth lifting. “That on repeat? Someone Like You on your playlist, Stell? Listening to old Adele remixes?”
I huff out a breath.
Despite myself.
“Touché.”
I lean back slightly, crossing my legs, letting my foot drag once more against his before I pull it away.
“But now I realize something,” I say, voice softer, steadier than I feel.
“It’s lonely at the top, Vale.”
That lands.
I see it in his eyes.
“I thought that’s what I wanted,” I continue. “Just me. My goals. My game. No distractions.”
A beat.
Then quieter.
“Turns out… it’s just lonely.”
His expression shifts.
Just a little.
Enough.
My voice drops.
“And what I wanted all along?”
I hold his gaze.
“It was you.”
Isa sucks in a sharp breath beside him.
The sound cuts through everything.
Reality crashing back in.
