(Connor's POV)
The apartment in Paris was quiet.
Too quiet.
Connor lay on the narrow bed, one arm draped across his forehead, staring up at the ceiling as if it held answers he couldn't ask out loud. There were cracks on the wall that reminded him of constellations—if he squinted hard enough, he could pretend they meant something.
Outside, the city was alive.
A street musician played accordion near the metro. Two women laughed loudly in French outside the café below. A Vespa zipped by.
But none of that reached him.
Inside, the air was still. Heavy. Like he wasn't living in Paris—he was hiding in it.
On the desk by the window sat a folded photograph. He hadn't meant to bring it, but in the rush of packing, it had ended up between the pages of a book she once lent him. Maybe the universe was cruel like that.
The corners of the photo were curled now, soft from over-handling.
Regina.
Caught mid-laugh, eyes squeezed shut, nose scrunched, braid tumbling over her shoulder. She looked so alive in it. He could almost hear her voice. The teasing. The way she'd say his name like it was both a joke and a question.
She'd made fun of him that day—for not knowing how to open a soda bottle. He'd faked a dramatic faint on the bench. She laughed so hard she nearly fell over. He remembered thinking, If I could freeze time, I'd freeze it here.
His thumb ran across her smile.
He hadn't stopped missing it.
He hadn't stopped missing her.
Around his wrist, the blue bracelet she'd made for him still clung tightly—simple, handwoven, a little faded at the knots. He never took it off. Not through customs. Not during class. Not even in the shower. It was the last thing she touched. A leftover trace of something too tender to throw away.
Some nights, he replayed her voice in his head.
Some nights, he played Here Comes the Sun on repeat until he fell asleep.
Like if he listened hard enough, she'd hear it too. Across time zones. Across whatever they were now.
His phone buzzed.
Mandy: She's with Julian now. I saw them at the library. Holding hands.
He stared at the screen.
Didn't answer.
Didn't blink.
Instead, he reached for the old-school photo album tucked under his bed. Real prints. The kind you couldn't delete.
Page after page.
Their first photo booth strip. A blurry selfie after their midnight walk. Her handwriting: "You look like a grumpy wolf in this one 🐺"
He exhaled slowly. Closed the album.
"She's happy," he told the room, voice flat. "That's what matters, right?"
But his eyes didn't believe it.
And somewhere under his ribs, something broke a little deeper.
He turned toward the wall and whispered to the darkness:
"I still love her."
"I want to go home."