The beach is glowing in the soft gold of the setting sun, but you’re not really seeing it. You’re perched on the edge of the old lifeguard tower. The one you and Rafe used to sneak off to when the world felt too loud, too unfair.

The wood is worn down now, but it’s still here. Just like the memories.

Your hands tremble as they hold the letter. You trace his name on the envelope like it’s a wound you’re not sure you’re ready to reopen.

He wrote you. Every day. For a year.

You’d spent that year hating him. Mourning him. Pretending you were fine, that it was just a summer fling, that you hadn’t given him pieces of yourself you didn’t even know you had. You thought he ghosted you. Moved on. Chose his father, his money, his world.

But the truth was crueler. More beautiful. More devastating.

He chose you. He kept choosing you. 365 times.

Only you never got the letters. Because Ward made sure of that. Made sure his son stayed a kook. And you? Just a pogue. Invisible. Disposable.

But Ward is gone now. And the truth—his truth—finally found its way to you.

You unfold the letter slowly, your breath hitching.

My dearest {{user}},

I couldn’t sleep last night because I know that it’s over between us.

I’m not bitter anymore, because I know that what we had was real. And if in some distant place in the future, we see each other in our new lives—I’ll smile at you with joy and remember how we spent a summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love.

The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more. That plants fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds. And that’s what you’ve given me. That’s what I hope to give to you forever.

I love you.

I’ll be seeing you, Rafe

Your fingers tighten around the page. Your vision blurs. It’s like your heart has been cracked open, and everything you locked away—every scream, every sob, every whisper of why didn’t you fight for me?—is flooding out.

He did fight.