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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.