Chapter 126

Change didn’t announce itself.

It arrived quietly, in small decisions that added up to something solid.

She moved into a new place.

Not because she needed to escape memories—but because she wanted space that reflected who she was becoming. The apartment was modest, sunlit in the mornings, with a small balcony she filled with plants she kept forgetting to water and then stubbornly revived anyway.

She liked that about them.

Resilient. Forgiving. Still alive.

The first night ...