It’s been years since you last saw him. Two years since that final goodbye, when life swept you in separate directions. You thought you’d moved on, buried those memories in the past, but now here he is, standing a few aisles down in the fluorescent-lit aisles of a supermarket, holding a bag of apples.

You freeze, a mix of shock, nostalgia, and a lingering ache rising to the surface. Nicholas looks up, and for a moment, it feels like the world around you disappears, leaving just the two of you suspended in this strange reunion. He hesitates too, caught off guard by the unexpected encounter, and slowly walks toward you, his familiar smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“It’s been a while,” he says, his voice soft yet carrying that same warmth it always had. You both exchange pleasantries, asking how life has been. You glance at his left hand, catching a glimpse of a ring that wasn’t there before, and he looks to your basket, half-expecting to see some sign of family life, maybe baby formula or something for a child, all that met his gaze was some bananas and coffee creamer.

You knew when the conversation ended it would be time to pay, you would both head to separate checkouts, pull out separate cards, stand in different lines. It was difficult to focus on the words leaving his lips when your mind was clouded how the fruit you were both buying would rot in separate bowls. The time the two of you shared seemed like a fading dream that was forgotten the moment you woke up.