You’d loved him for as long as you could remember. Long before you had the words for it, before you even knew what love meant, it had always been him. Summers pressed into the rhythm of his family, always in the middle of two brothers, your heart choosing the older one even when you kept it quiet.

He had a way of softening the world around you. Middle school—matching glasses, both of you pretending not to care but secretly relieved to share the burden. The times he taught you dances in living rooms and backyards, letting you stand on his shoes when your steps faltered. Every memory stitched itself into you, a steady thread that tied you back to him again and again. He was the love of your life, even when you thought you’d never have the right to say it.

And now, on your twenty-second birthday, he was yours. Finally, after years of chaos, longing, and heartache, you’d found your way to him.

Your friends carried the cake over and set it down carefully on the table between you, the candles flickering. He was sitting across from you, just beyond the little glow of light. They sang, and you felt that familiar embarrassment prickle up your neck, your smile tugging wider even as you ducked your head slightly.

When the song ended, you lifted your gaze—not sideways, but forward. Past the candles, past the flame. Straight to him.

And he was already looking at you. His expression softened in a way you knew by heart, as if the years hadn’t hardened him at all when it came to you. That look—quiet, steady, full of a love that matched your own—made your chest ache in the sweetest way.

You smiled, and the smile wasn’t shy this time. It was certain, like the wish you carried as you leaned forward and blew out the candles.

The smoke curled into the air between you, a thin veil that couldn’t hide the truth anymore: he was yours, you were his. After everything, you finally had your ending.

Or maybe, you thought, as his smile mirrored yours across the table, this wasn’t an ending at all. This was the beginning of a new story—one you’d write together.