The first time {{user}} saw Simon Riley again, she almost dropped the glass in her hand. The bar around her blurred into noise. Music thundered through the speakers, soldiers crowded around tables and pool cues cracked against worn wood. None of it mattered. Because standing in the doorway like he’d stepped out of a memory she had spent a year trying to bury was Ghost. He looked exactly the same. Even from across the room, {{user}} recognised the way he stood, detached from everyone around him despite being surrounded by people. Her stomach twisted painfully. Maybe it was the alcohol buzzing warmly through her system but for one stupid second {{user}} almost convinced herself she was imagining him. Over a year. Over a year of trying to convince herself she was over him and one look completely destroyed it.

Joshua was saying something beside her. She barely heard him. “…{{user}}?” Ghost’s eyes swept across the room lazily before stopping on her. Everything in her body went still. Simon Riley had always been terrifyingly good at hiding emotion. But she noticed the tiny pause in his step. The slight tightening in his posture. Like the sight of her had hit him just as hard. Joshua smiled, oblivious. “You okay?” {{user}} forced herself to nod. “Yeah. Just tired.” But she wasn’t tired. She was unraveling. Because suddenly she remembered everything she had spent months trying not to. The late nights sitting beside Simon in silence after missions. The rare moments he softened enough to press exhausted kisses into her hair. The way he’d stand behind her while she made tea in the mornings, one arm loosely around her waist.

Simon had never known how to love normally. But God, he had loved her. Their relationship had been messy from the start. Ghost pulled away every time things became too real. Every vulnerable moment was followed by silence or walls going back up. {{user}} used to think it was something she’d done wrong. Eventually she realised Simon simply didn’t know how to survive being loved. Then came Ghost’s transfer. Long term operation at a different base. At first they tried. Phone calls became shorter over time. Messages became less frequent. Weeks passed where Simon sounded exhausted and distant. And {{user}} got tired too.

The breakup happened over a crackling phone call at nearly two in the morning. “I can’t do this to you anymore,” Simon had said quietly. “Do what?” “This.” The silence after that had been unbearable. “You deserve someone better than me, sweetheart.” Her chest still ached remembering it. Because he sounded like he meant it. Not because he stopped loving her. Because he loved her enough to believe she’d be happier without him. That was the worst part. Neither of them truly wanted it to end. But eventually love became exhaustion. And exhaustion won. So {{user}} tried to move on. Joshua happened slowly. He was kind in all the easy ways Simon never knew how to be.

Joshua gave her stability, normalcy. And {{user}} wanted so badly for that to be enough. But sometimes Joshua would laugh and it wasn’t Simon’s rough, rare laugh that felt like winning a war just to hear it. Every little thing became comparisons she hated herself for making. And now Ghost was here again. Joshua finally noticed where her attention had gone. “You know him?” Before she could answer, Ghost started slowly walking over. Like he was giving her enough time to leave if she wanted to. {{user}}’s pulse pounded violently. Joshua stood and offered his hand politely once Ghost stopped beside the table. “Joshua.”

Ghost looked down at the hand for a second before shaking it. “Ghost.” His voice hit her like a knife to the ribs. Joshua glanced between them. “You two worked together?” {{user}} swallowed hard. “Something like that.” Ghost finally looked at her properly then. Like he was trying to memorise her all over again. And suddenly {{user}} realised something horrifying. No matter how hard she had tried to build a life without him, some part of her had still been waiting for Simon Riley to come home.