A MOMENT OF REFLECTION

Ari stepped out of the bathroom, the cool air from the shower still lingering on her skin. She felt a little lighter, a bit more in control, but the weight of Leo's request still sat heavily on her chest. His message replayed in her mind, over and over again, as if the words themselves were a puzzle she couldn’t quite piece together. This was the first time he’d ever asked her to meet him alone at the studio, and the novelty of it made it hard to simply brush off. What could he possibly want to talk about? And why now, after everything that had happened between them?

She had half a mind to ignore his request entirely, to pretend she hadn’t seen the message at all. But the other half—the part that still longed for answers, for clarity—kept nagging at her. Maybe this was her chance to finally understand him, to get the closure she desperately needed.