Under The Same Umbrella

Echoes Of Silence

Chapter 10

They didn’t leave the gallery together.

But thirty minutes later, Mia was on the rooftop deck of the building next door the view of the Makati skyline glittering like frozen fireworks. And Leo? He was already leaning against the railing when she got there.

“I figured you’d come,” he said without turning.

“And if I didn’t?”

“Then I’d wait until the city went dark.”

She rolled her eyes, hiding a smile. “Corny mo pa rin.”

Leo turned to her now, smirking. “You liked that side of me.”

Mia didn’t answer. Instead, she walked past him and leaned on the railing beside him, both of them facing the view the tension between them thicker than the humid August air.

“I don’t get it,” she whispered. “Why now?”

Leo inhaled slowly. “Because. I couldn’t keep pretending I’m okay seeing you from a distance. Watching you laugh with other people. Wondering if you’re sleeping better now that I’m not beside you.”

Mia’s hands tightened on the railing. “You were the one who let go.”

“I let go because I thought I was doing the right thing. You had dreams, Mia. I didn’t want to be the reason you gave them up.”

She turned to face him. “You weren’t. You just never fought hard enough to be part of them.”

That hit him. Leo stepped closer not too close, but close enough to make her feel his presence again.

“Then let me fight now.”

A soft silence stretched between them. No traffic. No gallery noise. Just them.

And then Mia spoke, voice low, almost breaking.

“You didn’t know this, but. I used to stand outside your building on Sundays. Just to see if you’d come down. Just to prove to myself that I could walk away if I needed to. But I never could.”

Leo's eyes dropped. His voice cracked. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Same reason you didn’t,” she said. “Pride. Fear. Stupidity.”

He chuckled a sad, tired sound. “We’re a mess.”

“But we were a beautiful one,” she replied, eyes glinting.

Their gazes locked again.

He took one step forward.

This time, she didn’t move back.

“I want to know who you are now,” Leo whispered. “Not the girl I lost. but the woman standing in front of me.”

Mia searched his face for insincerity, for doubt but there was none.

And just as she was about to speak

“Leo?”

They both turned.

Andrea.

Holding a wine glass, her heels clicking across the deck floor, and a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Well, isn’t this cozy,” she said, eyes darting from Leo to Mia.

The moment shattered.

Mia stepped back instinctively. Leo looked like he wanted to speak, but his voice caught in his throat.

Andrea tilted her head. “Don’t stop on my account. I’m sure I’m just interrupting. something important.”

“No,” Mia said quickly, steadying her voice. “You’re not.”

Leo opened his mouth. But Mia was already walking away, disappearing down the stairs, leaving Leo standing between the past and the future and unsure which one he’d just lost again.