Page 127 of A Solid Guide to Surviving a Situationship

Real.

Victor closed his eyes, feeling it too.

Firework lights danced across his face, each flicker tracing the curve of his cheek, the edge of his jaw, the stillness in him I had memorized without permission.

A single tear slipped down my face, and I didn’t stop it. I didn’t stop anything. I just let things flow—my sadness, my gladness, my longing, my love for him.

He opened his eyes again, his hand reaching for mine where it rested against his face.

Holding it there.

Holding me there.

He looked at me like he was trying to understand something he had already lost once.

And then⁠—

He pulled me in.

Just like that.

No hesitation.

No warning.

I stumbled forward into him, arms wrapping around his body like they remembered the shape before I did.

And when he held me—really held me—it felt like something inside me finally gave in.

For the first time in many breathless months, I was finally able to exhale.

I closed my eyes.

Let my face sink into his shoulder.

Into him.

The warmth.

The quiet.

The moment I didn’t realize I had been begging the heavens for.

And just like that…

It felt like coming home.

CHAPTER 15

HOME…?

January came quietly.

No announcement. No warning. Just a shift in the air, and suddenly… BOOM! Victor and I were back in each other’s lives. Like nothing ever broke. Like nothing ever ended.

Like that night—fireworks, tears, and everything in between—had somehow rewritten our fate in our favor.

And God, it felt so easy.