Austin and Lee were walking through the shopping district when he saw them.
Jayden and Sonya, walking together, Jayden's hand on the small of her back, her leaning slightly into him. They looked like a couple. They looked like they were sharing something private in the middle of a public space.
Lee noticed Austin noticing them.
"That's your ex, isn't it?" Lee asked carefully.
"Yeah," Austin said.
"And the guy with her?"
"Jayden Brii. Heir to the Brii family."
"So she moved up in the world," Lee observed.
Austin didn't respond immediately. He watched them stop outside a boutique, watch Jayden pull open the door for her with exaggerated gentleness, watch her disappear inside with a smile.
"You okay?" Lee asked.
"Fine," Austin said. "It doesn't matter."
But it did matter, a little. Not because he was in love with Sonya anymore, but because seeing her with Jayden crystallized something: he was already being replaced in everyone's lives. Soon, he'd be gone, and they'd all move on, and it would be like he'd never existed.
They continued walking through the shopping district. Austin bought a watch he didn't need. He bought a shirt that didn't fit right. He spent money on things that would be forgotten by the time the stores closed.
By late afternoon, they were tired. Austin suggested they stop at a coffee shop, one of those places that served overpriced drinks to people who didn't have anywhere else to be.
They were sitting by the window, watching people pass by, when Austin felt it—that tightness in his chest, that warning signal his body gave him when he was pushing too hard.
"We should head home," Lee said, noticing Austin's sudden stillness.
"Yeah," Austin agreed. "We should."