Sailor song- Gigi Perez The ceremony was beautiful—the kind of wedding I never thought I’d have. Candles flickered, casting a warm glow over the guests, and the soft strumming of a guitar filled the air. My fiancée stood beside me, her hand in mine, her smile steady and full of love. Everything was perfect… except for the eyes burning into me from across the room.

Ellie.

I saw her in the rightest way She sat near the back, leaning forward just enough that I could see the tension in her shoulders. Her green eyes locked onto me, unmoving, unblinking. She wasn’t just watching—she was staring, like she was trying to carve herself into this moment, like she was willing me to look back at her and remember everything we had.

And I did.

I remembered the late-night laughs, the way her hand fit in mine, the whispered promises we never got to keep. I remembered the way she loved me, fiercely, recklessly, the way she always made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered and how we could go forever till we wanted to sit it out. But that was the past and clearly lately I’ve tried other things but nothing can capture the sting.

Still, the way she looked at me now—jaw clenched, hands gripping the fabric of her pants like she wanted to tear something apart—told me she hadn’t let go the kind of thing that makes you proud.

I forced myself to focus on my fiancée, on the vows we were about to say, on the future we were about to build. But I could feel Ellie’s gaze, a ghost of something unfinished, something aching. And for just a second, I wondered… if I had turned around, if I had walked back to her, would she have let me go this time?