A Kiss to Remember

Chapter 10- The Walk Back

The Walk Back

Lana’s POV

The restaurant doors closed softly behind me, but the sound still seemed to echo.

Paris at night had a pulse — slow, rhythmic, alive. Every light shimmered as if the city was breathing, and I was just trying to match its pace.

I started walking. No destination in mind, just the need to move, to let the air touch my face. The dinner had felt like holding my breath for two hours, pretending everything was fine when it wasn’t.

The heels I’d chosen, the elegant sensible ones. It clicked on the pavement, steady and sharp in the quiet night, counting down every thought I didn’t want to have.

I didn’t take the job because of you. I didn’t even know you were behind it.

Those were my words, not his, but they wouldn’t stop replaying. The look on his face when I said them — surprise first, then something softer, like relief or regret, I couldn’t tell.

It would’ve been easier if he’d been angry.

---

The streets were quiet except for a few couples still out walking, laughing quietly to themselves. I envied them — that easy kind of closeness that didn’t have ten years of silence between it.

When I reached the end of the block, I turned toward the river. The Seine shimmered under the streetlights. I leaned against the railing, letting the wind tangle my hair.

That’s when I caught myself smiling, not because I was happy, but because I could almost hear Daniel teasing me about getting lost again.

“You’ll always take the long way home, Lana,” he used to say.

He’d been right. I still did.

---

I closed my eyes and thought back to college — the late nights in the computer lab, coffee cups everywhere, both of us half-asleep but still talking about “someday.”

He’d been a computer science major with a language obsession; I’d been a language student fascinated by how code could capture meaning. We’d spent months designing a translation app that never saw the light of day.

He’d handled the algorithms; I’d handled the words.

We’d laughed about starting a company.

He’d said, “Extra,” just Extra.

I’d joked that someday we’d make something that connected people — not just through words, but through understanding.

And now, here we were. He had. Without me.

---

I opened my eyes again. The city looked different now — sharper, colder.

A small boat drifted beneath the bridge, the sound of quiet music rising from it. It should have been peaceful. Instead, it hurt — the kind of ache that builds behind your ribs when memory becomes too loud.

I turned back toward the hotel. I needed to stop thinking, stop remembering. But the walk back only made it worse. Every step reminded me of how easily he’d fit back into my world, like a song I hadn’t realized I still knew all the lyrics to.

---

When I reached the hotel, I hesitated in the lobby. A couple stepped out of the elevator laughing, the woman holding his arm. I looked away quickly, pretending to scroll through my phone.

The elevator doors opened again, empty this time. I stepped in, pressed the button for my floor, and leaned back against the mirrored wall. My reflection stared back — same dark hair, same steady eyes, but something in them had changed.

Paris had always been my dream city. But tonight, it felt more like a mirror, showing me things I wasn’t ready to see.

I still cared. That was the truth I didn’t want to say out loud.

---

In my room, I kicked off my heels and dropped my purse on the chair. The silence felt heavier than before. I sat on the edge of the bed and let out a long breath, half sigh, half surrender.

The way he’d looked at me across that table. Calm, careful, guarded. It wasn’t indifference. It was familiarity.

He still remembered me. And that was dangerous.

---

I went to the window, pulling the curtains open. I could see the whole city below. The city looked like a sea, cars moving slowly through the streets.

From here, I could almost see the river I’d just left. Maybe even the restaurant, if I looked hard enough.

And somewhere above, on one of the upper floors, Daniel was probably in his suite, reading reports, sending late emails, pretending tonight hadn’t meant anything.

I wondered if he was thinking about me.

Then I hated myself for wondering.

---

I grabbed my notebook from the nightstand — not the notebook, the one that had started everything, but a new one I’d bought when I landed in Paris. The pages were mostly empty, except for the first line I’d written on the plane:

Sometimes life brings you back to the very thing you thought you’d outgrown.

I stared at it for a long time. Then, almost without thinking, I added a new line beneath it:

And sometimes, it looks you in the eye and dares you to start again.

---

I shut the notebook, slid it under the pillow, and turned off the light. But sleep didn’t come easily.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Daniel — the way he said my name, the way his voice softened on certain words, like muscle memory.

It wasn’t fair. He shouldn’t still have that effect on me.

But maybe fairness had never been part of our story.

---

The clock glowed past midnight when my phone buzzed.

A message from the company group chat. A late-night reminder about tomorrow’s strategy meeting.

Daniel’s name was at the top of the message list.

Just seeing it made my chest tighten.

I stopped and looked at it for a second, my thumb hesitating above the screen. I didn’t open it. I just stared until the light dimmed and faded away.

Then I lay back, staring at the ceiling, and whispered to no one, “Why now?”

---

Outside, the city kept moving.

Cars passed, laughter echoed faintly from the street below, and somewhere in the distance, a clock struck one.

I closed my eyes again, and this time, I didn’t fight the memory. I let it come. His smile, his voice, the night we’d first dreamed of Extra, when the world felt wide open and ours.

That was ten years ago.

But standing here now, I could feel it all over again.

Maybe the past never really leaves you.

Maybe it just waits for the right city, the right night, and the right person to remind you that some stories aren’t finished.

Not yet.

_____________

What do you guys think of this ending. I bet y'all were tired of the fact that she kept thinking about him.. A LOT!

Haha.

Anyway, what do you think would happen. Would she make her move , or would this be a long back and forth process? let me know!

Make sure to vote guysss and comment because that's the only way my story can be pushed and recognised.