This time, Helena really didn’t mean to be late, but it wasn’t her fault that they had just got a new lead on the case she’s been working on. And it wasn’t her fault that she might have forgotten the date night the two of you agreed on in the process.

By the time she reaches the front door to your shared apartment, it’s 1 am and she finds you fast asleep on the couch with the movie the you were going to watch together playing in the background. She winces when she sees the untouched glasses of wine and the box of pizza set out on the coffee table with some petals scattered around them. Knowing that you were so determined to wait for her makes the knot in her stomach feel even tighter and her heart to plummet even further.

“Hey, I’m home now.”