Alina’s POV
That day, I chose to breathe. Not because the pain was gone, but because I was ready to live beside it without letting it define me.
The morning arrived quietly, as if it did not want to disturb the fragile balance we had created inside the beach house.
The sky was pale, washed clean by the night’s gentle wind, and the sea stretched endlessly before me like a promise I was still learning how to trust.
I wrapped my arms around myself on the porch and reminded my heart that peace was not a trick, that it did not have to disappear the moment I noticed it.
Leo was still asleep, tangled in his blankets, his face soft and untroubled. I watched him for a long time, memorizing the curve of his lashes, the steady rhythm of his breathing. Every step I had taken, every fear I had f
