MAX The hum of the crowd felt like static in my ears, the music blurring into an unintelligible murmur. But I couldn’t focus on the noise—not when they were standing there—Sara and Sam, locked in their own world. Her laughter, that sound I used to hear more than anything else, filled the space between us. It was light, carefree. It made my chest ache in ways I couldn’t escape. I leaned against the wall, hidden in the shadows, my heart thundering as I watched them. Every smile, every gentle touch Sam gave her—my Sara—felt like a knife twisting deeper into my gut. How could she have moved on? I hadn’t expected it to hurt this much, but it did. Seeing them together was like a gut punch, but it wasn’t the sight of her with him that burned—it was the thought of her forgetting me. Of all the

