BUT YOU ARE NOT HER

He watched her from across the room — her back to him, trying to zip up the soft blue dress he had left on her bed that morning. She hadn't seen the card because there wasn't one.

There never was.

He stepped forward silently and helped with the zipper, his fingers brushing the skin at her back. She shivered slightly and looked over her shoulder at him.

"Where are we going?" she asked, a soft smile playing on her lips.

"You'll see," he said.

The boat rocked gently beneath their feet, the water stretching out around them like a mirror reflecting all the things they weren't saying.

She stood at the edge, arms wrapped around herself as the wind teased her hair. The lights of the shore were fading behind them, and only the stars remained.

"You really did all this for me?" she asked, not turning around.

Leon didn't answer right away. He stepped beside her, slipping his hands into his pockets.

"You've had a rough year," he said. "Thought you deserved a night that didn't feel like pretending."

She laughed — not because it was funny, but because she knew. Maybe not everything. But enough.

"I feel like I'm always pretending," she whispered. "To be her. Celeste. Like everyone's looking at me and waiting for me to act right."

Leon's heart twisted. She wasn't wrong.

"Maybe you don't have to pretend anymore."

That made her turn. Her brows drew together slightly. "What?"

He took a breath, the kind that burned in his chest before it came out.

"I think…" He looked at her carefully. "I think you deserve to find out who you are. Not who we keep saying you are."

Silence stretched between them, only the sound of water brushing against the boat.

"You don't believe I'm her," she said finally.

"I don't know who you are," he said, and it was the most honest thing he'd said in months. "But I know it isn't fair. To ask you to carry a life you don't remember. To expect you to love people you don't know."

Her eyes filled, but she didn't cry. "And what about you?"

He looked down, jaw tight.

"I promised my dad I'd stay with Celeste. That I'd never let her go."

A long pause.

"But you're not her," he said softly. "And I can't keep holding you like you are."

She turned back to the water, blinking fast.

"Then why this?" she asked. "Why the boat, the dress, today?"

"Because you still matter," Leon said. "Even if you're not Celeste. Even if you never remember. You deserved something real, before I let go."

A tear slid down her cheek then, and she quickly wiped it.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Leon stared at her, memorizing her face one last time in the moonlight.

He had loved Ayla.

He had promised to protect Celeste.

But maybe it was time he stopped chasing ghosts…

And let the girl in front of him finally be free.