THE FINALE.EP-5
988 Words
The night was cold, but Rose barely felt it as she walked through the city, her mind racing. The photo, the messages, Lena’s triumph — everything swirled like a storm she couldn’t outrun. She ended up at the bench overlooking the river, the place where she and Adrian had once shared their first real, vulnerable moment.
The city lights shimmered on the dark water.
Her heart felt heavier than ever.
She had loved Adrian with everything inside her.
But trust… trust was fragile, and once cracked, it didn’t heal cleanly.
“Rose?”
She stiffened.
She didn’t even need to turn.
She knew that voice.
Adrian approached slowly, cautiously, like he was afraid she might disappear if he moved too fast.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he said, breathless from running.
Rose kept her eyes on the river. “How did you find me?”
“Because this is where we always come when things get difficult. You once told me this place helps you think.”
She didn’t answer, but her silence wasn’t rejection.
It was… exhaustion.
Adrian sat a careful distance away. Close enough to feel the warmth of him. Far enough not to touch her without permission.
“Rose…” His voice cracked. “I’m begging you — hear me out. Please.”
She swallowed. “Tell me the truth. All of it. No soft edges. No protecting me. No more of the ‘I didn’t want to hurt you’ excuse.”
He nodded, eyes glistening.
“I never slept with Lena. I never kissed her. Not even once.”
A beat of silence.
“But yes… we were close. Closer than I ever admitted. I let her depend on me too much. And I depended on her too, when I felt alone. She was there for me when everything else was falling apart.”
Rose looked away. “Emotional cheating is still cheating.”
He flinched.
“I know. And I hate myself for it. But I need you to understand — she meant something to me then… because I didn’t have you yet.”
“And now?” Rose whispered.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, folded paper.
She frowned. “What’s that?”
“A letter I wrote the day I realized I was falling in love with you. Before we even got together. I never had the courage to give it to you.”
She hesitated, then took it.
Her fingers trembled as she opened the worn paper.
Rose,
I don’t know when it happened. Maybe it was the way you laugh like you don’t care who hears you. Or how you talk about your dreams with fire in your eyes. I thought I knew my heart before — but then you walked in and rewrote it, completely.
I think I’m falling for you. And I’m terrified you’ll never feel the same.
Rose pressed the letter to her chest, tears gathering.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
“You wrote this… before anything happened between us?”
“Yes,” Adrian said. “Long before.”
She wiped her eyes slowly. “Lena sent that picture to break us. You know that, right?”
“I do.” His jaw tightened. “She twisted everything. She wants me — not the person I am now, but the version of me she built in her head.”
“And what version is that?”
“The one who chooses ambition over love,” he said quietly. “The one who would let her take care of me instead of learning to stand beside someone I love. She never understood me. She understood my work. You… you understand my heart.”
For the first time tonight, Rose looked directly at him.
“You hurt me,” she said softly.
“I know.” His voice cracked. “And I will spend however long it takes proving I won’t hurt you again.”
The wind blew across the river, carrying the faint sound of traffic, a reminder of the world moving on even when hearts felt stuck.
Rose took a deep breath.
“Adrian… I need to know something.”
He leaned in, hopeful but scared.
“Anything.”
“If she came back tomorrow, offering you everything — the job, the success, the prestige — and I asked you to stay with me…” She paused, voice trembling. “Who would you choose?”
Adrian didn’t hesitate.
“You,” he said. “Every damn time.”
Silence settled — heavy, but no longer suffocating.
“And if I walk away?” Rose asked.
He exhaled shakily.
“Then I’ll spend every day respecting your choice… and loving you quietly from wherever I end up. I won’t chase, I won’t beg, but I will never love anyone the way I love you.”
The honesty in his voice wrapped around her heart like warmth spreading through cold fingers.
She looked down at the letter again.
This fragile, scared version of him — the version that had kept his feelings hidden — was real.
And maybe… maybe people made mistakes before they grew into the ones they were meant to be.
Rose stood.
Adrian rose with her, uncertainty in his eyes.
“Rose?”
She stepped close.
Close enough to feel his breath, to hear the wild beat of his heart.
“I’m choosing you,” she whispered. “Not because you’re perfect. But because love isn’t about perfection. It’s about trying. And I still want… us.”
His breath hitched.
“Are you sure?”
She placed her hands on his face.
“Yeah. I am.”
His relief shattered into a soft, trembling laugh — then he pulled her into his arms.
The world blurred.
The kiss was slow, deep, aching, full of promise.
And then—
Fade to black.
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THE END. ❤️
- Writer
