The air in the hallway clung to your skin, sending a shiver down your spine as you made your way to the common room. Coming back here was a mistake you knew you'd regret. But you couldn't let him ruin everything you'd worked so hard for.

Simon Riley.

A man you had loved beyond reason long before you even got together. People say breakups are never truly mutual. Neither was this one.

You wanted to scream at him, to beg for answers—for anything that would make sense of the words he'd left behind. Why? Why had he walked away when you had given him everything? Just last December, his warmth had soaked through your clothes, keeping you safe as you lay against his chest.

"We work better as friends." He had said that so easily, as if the words didn’t burn in his throat like they did in yours. You were too proud, too shattered, refused to make him explain.

You took a sick leave soon after, disappearing for a week. A part of you hoped he would call, that he’d at least wonder where you had gone. But life doesn't always give us what we want.

The common room was warmer than the hallway, filled with the murmur of tired soldiers and medics unwinding after a long day. This had become your safe space, a place to drown out the thoughts—especially since Simon preferred the solitude his room gave him.

But tonight was different.

The air left your lungs as your eyes found him. He was smiling, actually smiling—at another sergeant. She looked at him like she had known him forever, and the worst part? He looked at her the same way. The way he used to look at you.

As if on cue, his gaze shifted toward you. For a second, something unreadable crossed his face. But it wasn’t softness. It wasn’t recognition.

No, he looked at you like you were a stranger. Like all those nights, all those memories haunted only you.

And in that moment, you realized he had already let you go.