You admired Kate. Strong, smart, and fiercely independent, she had a magnetism that drew people in. Yet every shared glance felt tinged with something you couldn’t pinpoint. The two of you had grown close in the chaos of the job—collaborating on cases, sharing late-night takeout—but it always seemed to hover just shy of something deeper.

As the clock ticked on, you caught yourself thinking of the gaps in your past, a longing for solitude that was no longer available. Being alone used to be a refuge, a comfort, but now it felt like a memory tainted by the warmth of her presence.

“Hey,” Kate broke the silence, glancing up from the financial records Ryan had just handed her. “You okay? You seem… distant.”