"Across All Places, It's You"

CHAPTER 15: Breaking Points

POV: Yarra Sebastian

Location: Garden Walkway, Altamonte Medical Center

"You're leaving again?!"

Her voice cracked through the stillness of the late afternoon.

Zarred froze mid-step, his back still facing her, paralyzed by the weight of her words.

Slowly, he turned around, his eyes meeting hers—confused, guilty, aching.

Yarra took a few shaky steps toward him. Her fists clenched at her sides, her voice trembling with suppressed anger and years of bottled pain.

"So this is how it's always going to be, Zarred? Every time I speak up, you bring back what you did to me before—and then you walk away again?!" Her voice rose. "What kind of man are you, huh? Are you just a flirt? Once I fall for you, you're just going to leave me too?!"

Silence.

Zarred looked like her words had stabbed him right in the chest. His jaw tightened. His hands trembled at his sides.

"Yarra..." he whispered.

But she wasn’t finished.

"You made me believe in something. You made me dream, you made me love—and then you left, like I was nothing. Do you even know how many nights I cried? How many years I tried to forget you?"

"Yarra, please..." his voice was low, almost pleading.

"What is this now, Zarred? You saw me and suddenly you're back? Is it really that easy for you?"

He took a bold step toward her. Then another. His breathing was shallow. His eyes burned—not with anger, but with longing and regret.

Then, suddenly—he pulled her into his arms.

And before she could say another word...

He kissed her......Not softly.......But fiercely.........Desperately.

Like a man drowning, and she was the only breath he had left in the world.

Yarra’s eyes widened for a moment, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. She could’ve pushed him away. She should’ve. But her body betrayed her—her pain melting into his warmth, her tears dissolving into his touch.

Her arms slowly lifted—uncertain, trembling—and clung to his shirt.

And she kissed him back.

For a moment, the world stopped. The hospital, the noise, the past—everything disappeared except for the two of them.

When their lips finally parted, Yarra rested her forehead against his chest. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke.

"This doesn’t fix anything, Zarred..."

"I know," he whispered into her hair. "But it’s a start."

She looked up at him, eyes glossy with emotion. "Then prove to me you're not just a memory."

"I will," he promised. "This time... I won’t walk away."

They stood there in each other's arms, two hearts still healing—but no longer alone.