EPILOGUE: A MOVE YET TO BE MADE
340 Words
The city was quieter at night.
Or maybe Liana just noticed it more now.
Standing alone on the balcony, she let the cool air settle against her skin, her thoughts unusually clear despite everything that had happened.
The past few days felt distant.
Like something she had already outgrown.
Behind her, the faint sound of movement broke the silence.
She didn’t turn.
“You’re thinking too much again.”
Arvin’s voice.
Calm. Familiar.
Too familiar.
Liana exhaled softly. “That’s kind of necessary now, isn’t it?”
A pause.
Then his footsteps stopped just behind her.
Close enough to feel.
Not close enough to touch.
“Most people would’ve walked away by now,” he said.
She tilted her head slightly.
“Most people weren’t given a choice,” she replied.
“That’s not true,” he said.
Now she turned.
Slowly.
Her eyes met his.
“You think I had one?”
“I know you did,” he said.
That answer lingered longer than expected.
Because part of her knew,
He wasn’t wrong.
Liana folded her arms lightly.
“So what now?” she asked.
“For you?” Arvin replied.
A faint pause.
“Anything.”
That word settled between them.
Not as freedom.
But as possibility.
Her gaze didn’t waver.
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It is.”
No hesitation.
A small silence followed.
But this time,
It wasn’t tense.
It wasn’t controlled.
It was… open.
“You built everything on certainty,” she said quietly. “Plans. outcomes. control.”
Arvin didn’t deny it.
“And now?” she continued.
A pause.
Then,
“Now,” he said, “there’s something unpredictable.”
Her brows lifted slightly.
“Oh?”
His gaze didn’t shift.
“You.”
For a moment,
Neither of them moved.
Then Liana turned back toward the city.
A faint smile touched her lips.
Not soft.
Not warm.
But real.
“Good,” she said.
Because for the first time,
She wasn’t afraid of the unknown.
She was part of it.
- Writer
