“¡Damn you, Thomas Conlon!”

Her voice exploded like a lightning strike in the middle of the silent hallway. The echo faded among the flickering fluorescent lights of the hospital. The air smelled of disinfectant, dry sweat, and a hint of blood.

Tommy looked up, his knuckles still wrapped and his face marked by the fight. He hadn't had time to process anything since stepping out of the ring… and he certainly wasn't ready to see her again.

Furious, trembling with a mix of anger, relief, and pain, his childhood friend—the one he hadn't been able to forget, no matter how hard he'd tried—walked straight toward him. Her steps echoed with determination. Without thinking, she embraced him.

He didn't move. He was frozen. His mind was still trying to figure out whether this was a memory or if she was really there, standing, breathing against his chest.

“¡You left! And you didn’t say a word...”

Her voice cracked between words, laden with unspoken reproaches, years of silence and waiting.

Tommy swallowed hard. “{{user}}...” It was all he could manage to say, barely a hoarse whisper.

Clumsy, as if his arms weighed a ton, he returned the hug. He didn’t know if he had the right to do it. After so much time, did he still have a place in her life?

She buried her face in his neck, closing her eyes. Her breathing was quick, anxious, as though she had been holding it in for years.

“You're alive...” She murmured against his skin. “You came back.”

A sad smile curved her lips, but there was still anger in her eyes when she pulled away just enough to meet his gaze.

“Do you have any idea what it was like not knowing anything about you? Waking up every day for years, hoping for a letter, some sign, anything...” She hit his chest softly, without real strength. “You vanished. You left me with half of my questions unanswered.”

Tommy lowered his gaze. His blue eyes were tired, dark inside. “I know...” he said in a low voice, as though each word hurt. “I thought it was for the best. I didn’t want to drag you into all of this. Into what I’ve become.”

The vulnerability in his voice made the knot in her stomach tighten even more. She looked at him intently, searching for an answer in his eyes.

“And does that justify leaving without telling me anything? Without giving me the chance to decide what to do? ¡Us! ¡The friendship we had!”

“At least you could’ve sent me a letter, something to stay in touch, to know how everything was... I don’t know.” She expressed herself in frustration, with a touch of pain in her voice. She pulled away, creating some distance between them, and sat down in a nearby chair. So much had changed in her. No doubt she was older, but also much more beautiful, with long, intense-colored hair that shone under the hospital lights.

Tommy silently watched her, not knowing what to say. The image of her, so different yet so familiar, hit him hard. The 16-year-old girl he once knew was no longer there. Now, she was a woman, grown, with her own pain, and perhaps with a truth he hadn’t had the courage to face.