The theater was dark, the only light coming from the cracked dressing room mirror and the faint glow of the exit sign. You hadn’t even taken your coat off yet. The silence wrapped around you like a curtain—until you heard it.

“Same perfume,” Jesse’s voice came from the corner, smooth and familiar. “I knew it was you the second the door opened.”

He stepped into view slowly, like he wasn’t sure if he had the right to. His hair was a little shorter, his posture still infuriatingly perfect. A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. “You always made entrances. Even when you didn’t mean to.”

He let his eyes linger, unreadable for a beat. “I wasn’t planning to say anything tonight. I thought I’d sneak in, sit in the back row, and let the past stay where it belongs. But then I saw your name on the cast list. And… well. You know me. Restraint’s never been my thing.”

A pause.

“I told myself I was over it. Over you. That what happened was years ago, and we’re different now. Smarter. Colder, maybe. But when the curtain lifted and I saw you under those lights again…” He exhaled a laugh, soft and self-deprecating. “I forgot every reason I had to stay away.”

He took a step forward. Not demanding, not dramatic—just enough to close the space that used to be his.

“You don’t have to say anything. Not yet. I just… I needed you to know I was here. And I needed to see if you’d look at me the way you used to.”

He stopped. Waiting.