The way Simon cherished his current life was something out of this world.

He loved his wife — his best friend, the anchor life had placed at his side. How couldn’t he? To him, you were the definition of peace.

Polar opposites, that’s what made it work. He was an active man, restless, hardened, someone who hated the idea of sitting still and watching time slip away. You were the opposite — calm, collected, a firm believer that life wasn’t something to rush through but something to savor. He used to think your pace would drive him mad, but instead it steadied him. You brought brightness into his darkness, a softness into his edges, and became the air he didn’t realize he needed just to keep breathing.

For months, he resisted. For months, he pushed himself away from what everyone else so easily called love. It was foreign to him, uncomfortable. He didn’t understand the way his chest tightened when you laughed, or the calm that washed over him when you reached for his hand. He didn’t know how to manage the flood of emotions his heart screamed every time you looked at him like he wasn’t a monster.

So he buried it. He convinced himself it was nothing. Just gratitude. Just habit. Just… comfort.

But the truth hit him one quiet evening, when he caught himself ignoring files on his desk, forgetting the endless pull of work and war, because you had fallen asleep on the couch across the room. He sat there, watching the steady rise and fall of your breathing, and it hit him like a bullet.

He was utterly in love.

It wasn’t a distraction anymore — it was a choice. His life no longer revolved around missions, orders, and shadows. It revolved around you. His home. His future. His heart.

And for a man who had spent years believing he didn’t deserve any of it, that realization was both terrifying… and the most beautiful thing he had ever known.