Adrian didn't move for a long time after the call ended.
The silence in his apartment felt suffocating.
"I needed time to figure out who I still loved."
He replayed his own words.
Over and over.
And suddenly, they didn't sound reasonable.
They sounded cowardly.
He looked at his phone again.
No new messages.
No "I'm sorry."
No "Call me back."
Just the cold finality of a call that had ended too cleanly.
Too calmly.
And that scared him more than screaming ever could.
Because calm meant done.
He thought about Lila's voice when she asked:
"So what am I?"
Not angry.
Not dramatic.
Just... hurt.
Deeply.
And something inside him twisted painfully.
Across town, Lila sat by her window, watching the rain streak down the glass.
Her tears had stopped.
Not because it didn't hurt.
But because she had reached that quiet place where pain settles.
She picked up her phone.
Opened their message thread.
Scrolled.
Smiled faintly at the earlier conversations.
Then she locked the screen.
She wouldn't beg.
She wouldn't compete.
She wouldn't be someone's "while I decide."
Back in his apartment, Adrian stood abruptly.
He grabbed his jacket.
This wasn't something he could fix with a text.
This wasn't something he could fix tomorrow.
He had already used up tomorrow.
Thirty minutes later, he was standing outside her building.
Rain soaked his hair.
His shirt clung to him.
He didn't care.
He pressed the buzzer.
Once.
Twice.
No answer.
His chest tightened.
"Lila," he whispered under his breath.
He pulled out his phone and called.
It rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Then voicemail.
He leaned his forehead against the cold glass of the building entrance.
And for the first time...
He admitted the truth.
He hadn't needed time to figure out who he loved.
He had known.
He just hadn't been brave enough to choose her in front of his past.
And now...
He might have lost her because of it.
Upstairs, Lila's phone vibrated on the table.
She stared at it.
His name lit up the screen.
Again.
And again.
Her heart reacted immediately.
Stupid heart.
She let it ring.
Then stop.
Then ring again.
She walked to the window.
And that's when she saw him.
Standing in the rain.
Looking up.
Looking desperate.
Her breath caught.
He looked different.
Not composed.
Not controlled.
Just... raw.
Her phone buzzed one last time.
A message.
She opened it.
"I was a coward. I was scared of closing a chapter I once thought was my forever. But loving you didn't feel confusing. It felt clear. I just chose fear over clarity. Please don't let my fear cost me you."
Her chest tightened painfully.
Another message.
"I ended it tonight."
Her pulse quickened.
Ended it?
With her?
The fiancée.
The past.
The "finally coming together."
Down below, Adrian stepped back from the building.
He looked up toward her floor.
"I choose you," he whispered to the rain.
And this time...
There was no hesitation.