An Unexpected Encounter
Outside a discreet café drenched in warm amber light, Lena hesitated. This was the spot. She had chosen it carefully: not too loud, but not too quiet either—neutral ground. She slipped inside, away from the drizzle now pricking at her cheeks. A warm gust of roasted coffee beans and cinnamon greeted her.
She scanned the room. People stared absently at their laptops, couples leaned across tables lost in whispers, and a scruffy-looking man tinkered with a typewriter in the corner. Then, a voice cut through her thoughts, low and tinged with an edge of surprise.
“Lena?”
She turned. There he was—Levi. Years had passed, but time had only sharpened his features. His dark curls fell messily across his forehead, his leather jacket creaked as he slipped out of it. Yet his eyes—a shade of piercing blue she once joked reminded her of frozen lakes—were the same, anchoring her to a time she both cherished and wished to forget.
The Weight of Unfinished Conversations
“You came,” Lena said, her voice steadier than she’d expected. She sat down across from him, their table lit by the soft glow of an Edison bulb.
“I wasn’t sure I would,” Levi admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “When I got your text…” He trailed off, finally meeting her gaze. “It’s been what, seven years?”
“Eight,” she corrected, clasping her hands tightly around her coffee cup. Nostalgia threatened to pull her under like an undertow, but she steadied herself. “I didn’t think you’d want to see me.”
He laughed softly, a sound both bitter and nostalgic. “You have a short memory, then. You’re the one who left, Lena. No warning, no explanation.”
She winced. “I had my reasons.”
“Now you want to share them?” His voice was sharp, cutting, but his expression softened when he saw the flicker of pain in her eyes. “Sorry. I mean… I’m here, aren’t I? So talk.”
The Revelation
The words came hesitantly at first, like coaxing splinters out of tender skin. Lena explained why she disappeared that autumn eight years ago—how her mother’s sudden illness had pulled her back to a small town miles away, how guilt and grief had tethered her there long after the funeral, and how she convinced herself Levi deserved better than an apology wrapped in excuses.
“I couldn’t face you,” she confessed, her voice trembling. “I thought cutting you off would protect you from…from me.”
Levi stared at her through the haze of steam curling up from his untouched coffee. Finally, he leaned forward, his voice gentle but firm. “You don’t get to decide what I can or can’t handle, Lena. All this time, I thought I wasn’t enough for you—that I wasn’t worth an explanation.”
Her throat tightened. “I’m sorry. I was scared.”
Silence hung between them, dense and charged, until Levi spoke again.
“I’m not going to lie. It hurt—still does. But maybe…maybe it doesn’t have to end here.”
A New Chapter
By the time they left the café, the city had transformed into a glittering canvas of amber streetlights and distant murmurs. The drizzle had stopped, though the air was heavy with the smell of damp concrete.
They stood under the awning, neither willing to break the fragile warmth of the moment. Lena tugged her mustard coat tighter around her. “So, do you think we could…start over?”
Levi tilted his head, the corners of his mouth lifting in a cautious smile. “Starting over is hard. But…it’s worth trying.”
As they walked side by side into the night, Lena felt a flicker of something she hadn’t allowed herself in years—hope.
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