of the road, and neither had the ringing in her ears f

found herself standing outside the flat she and Daniel had shared before their split - the flat that

curtains she could see him moving about the

climbed the two steps to the door and knoc

ier that evening, his tie loosened, his expression shifting rapidly from surprise to something

the street, as though worried someone

r voice hoarse from the cold. "I don't even

holding the door open. "You'd b

rept in since she'd left - a different throw folded over the sofa, a framed photograph of

wed hers, so did he. He didn't move to hide it. He didn't need

ing her arms around herself, water still drip

r, exhaling slowly, and gestured toward the sofa

s lived in that airing cupboard, and for a moment the domestic familiarity of it nearly u

owel draped over her shoulders, an

ve I sent those messag

air across from her, elbows braced against his knees, eye

Elena. With

not what

flickered across his features - the same doubt she'd glimpsed ea

ots showed. I know the dates lined up with times you could hav

I couldn't work out why until I was standing there watching you deny it, and your face looked

n't you say something? Why did you just sit ther

th my own eyes." His voice rose slightly, frustration bleeding through the careful composure he'd been trying to maintain. "What was I supposed

s exactly what you were supposed to do, if you ever

oke, the silence stretching taut between them, filled only by the soft patter of

That's the truth, whether you believe it or not. But Victoria and I are engaged now, Elena. Whatever

ders and pooling on the sofa behind her. "I'm asking you to choose the truth. That's all I've wanted from an

e quickly and caught her arm before she co

e got nowhere to go, and whatever's happened between us, I

perhaps, or simply the last remnant of the man she'd once trusted completely with everything - a

think happens then? To me? To whatever fragile peace you've managed

and fell a

vy with something that might have been reg

r the door handle herself thi

mply stood framed in the doorway watching her walk away, his silhouette outlined by the warm ligh

*

o, not tonight, not when looking back meant

me she reached the end of his street, soaking through what rema

dows, past a bus stop where a group of teenagers huddled beneath the shelter

e three years she

the small kindnesses, the

make him stand up in that sitting room an

nuine uncertainty - and understood, with a bitterness that settled deep in her chest, tha

he ha

t's, finally allowing her legs to stop, her whole bod

ing to steady her breathing, trying to convince herself that somehow

oss the wet paveme

lf staring at a figure standing just beyond the reach of the streetlamp's weak amber glow - st