DANTE Japan felt like a dream. The reality was that I had been back home for days, overwhelmed with work, barely sleeping, and missing everyone, especially her. I had immersed myself in catching up on everything that piled up while we were away: contracts, meetings, crisis management. Hours slipped by without me noticing until my eyes burned and my neck ached. I didn’t have time to spend with Cinnamon. We texted as much as possible throughout the day since we hardly saw each other. She would always send me pictures of cute things and countless reels that I barely had time to watch, and I replied with one-word responses between conference calls. It was frustrating. To make it up to her, I started planning something special for Valentine’s Day, just five days away, something significant

