the insistent knocking jarred {{user}} awake. he fumbled for his phone, the screen glaring in the dim light – 2:17 am. who could that be? another insistent rap echoed through his small apartment. sighing, he padded to the door, and peered through the peephole.

bella.

his breath hitched. bella, looking disheveled, leaning heavily against his doorframe. bella's usually sharp attire was rumpled, and her eyes, when she finally lifted her head, were bloodshot. a half-empty bottle of amber liquid dangled from her hand.

“{{user}},” she slurred, her voice thick. “{{user}}, baby, please.”

his heart sank. {{user}} knew that tone. the one that came after too much whiskey and too much time spent alone with her thoughts. thoughts that always seemed to circle back to {{user}}.

{{user}} hesitated, his hand hovering over the deadbolt. five months. five months since the awkward conversations, the forced smiles in the hospital hallways, the deliberate avoidance of each other’s gaze in the operating room. five months of trying to move on. and tonight, he had. a simple dinner with savannah, a kind nurse from the cardiac unit. apparently, news traveled fast within the hospital walls.

“bella, it’s late,” he said through the closed door, his voice soft but firm.

“i know, baby. i know. i just… i had to see you.” bella hiccuped. “i heard… about your date.”