Austin was leaving a coffee shop on Fifth Street when he literally collided with Sonya.
Not violently—just enough that her coffee sloshed slightly in her cup.
"Oh, I'm—" Sonya said, looking up.
She stopped.
"Austin," she said.
"Hi," he said. Behind him, Lee was already assessing the situation, preparing for whatever came next.
For a moment, neither of them knew what to say. This was their first real interaction since everything had fallen apart, since she'd ended their engagement, since she'd become the CEO of her company and he'd become... whatever he was now.
"How are you?" Sonya asked finally.
"Good," Austin said. "Really good, actually. You?"
"Busy," she said. "The company's been growing. New divisions, new responsibilities."
"That's good," Austin said. "You deserve that."
"Yeah," Sonya said. She paused. "I heard you were at that art gallery last week. The one Kosov was sponsoring."
"News travels," Austin said.
"It does in our circles," Sonya said. She looked away for a moment. "I'm... I'm dating someone. Did you know that?"
"I saw you with him," Austin said simply.
"He's different," Sonya said. "From you. From everything."
"That's good," Austin said, and he meant it. "You should have someone who's different. Someone who can give you what you need."
"You could never do that," Sonya said, and there was sadness in the statement, not cruelty.
"No," Austin agreed. "I couldn't."
There was a moment where they were both just standing there, acknowledging the space between them—a space that had started forming long before he'd learned he was dying.
"I'm happy," Austin said quietly. "Maybe not in the way I thought I'd be. But I am."
"I'm glad," Sonya said. She meant it.
After she left, Lee asked, "That hurt?"
"A little," Austin admitted. "But not the way I expected it to."