She clocked out of work with an unusual weight on her chest, fingers itching to dial his number. It had been five months since she last heard from her ex—the one she’d been tangled up with for months, both clinging to the comfort of familiar nights without the promise of anything more. They had always left things unspoken, and that’s how she thought they both preferred it. Yet seeing his recent post had cracked something open in her—a casual photo of him somewhere scenic, captioned about “finding himself,” like he was some kind of lost soul on a journey she’d never been invited on.

The phone rang longer than expected before he picked up, his voice surprised but calm. She didn’t waste time with small talk, didn’t ask where he was or how he’d been. “Five months,” she started, voice steady but laced with hurt. “You go off on some… self-discovery tour without a word?”