It was an ordinary Thursday. Quiet. Uneventful.
Eleena was at Jace's apartment, curled on the couch, reviewing designs for a client. He was in the kitchen, humming as he made tea — a habit he'd picked up in recent weeks. Soft moments like this had started to feel normal again. Warm. Almost easy.
Until her phone buzzed.
Mira: You might want to check this.
Attached was a photo — grainy, taken from a distance, but unmistakable.
Jace.
In a café downtown.
Sitting across from Lena Rivera — the woman he used to work with. The one who used to like him a little too much. The one Eleena had once asked about… and Jace had said wasn't a thing.
Eleena stared at the image, her stomach twisting. She didn't jump to conclusions. Not yet. But her instincts screamed louder than her heart wanted them to.
"Jace?" she called out, steadying her voice.
He appeared in the doorway, mug in hand, smile fading when he saw her face.
"Yeah?"
"Were you at June's Café yesterday?"
A flicker. Barely there. But she saw it — the hesitation.
"I had a meeting," he said. "Why?"
"Was it with Lena Rivera?"
Silence.
Then — slowly — he set the mug down on the coffee table.
"It was."
Eleena stood up. "You told me you hadn't spoken to her in months."
"I hadn't. Until she reached out a week ago. Said she had a project idea. I didn't think it was worth mentioning."
"Because it wasn't? Or because you knew I'd ask why someone who used to flirt with you suddenly wanted to collaborate again?"
He didn't answer.
That was his answer.
"Jace," she whispered, her voice cracking. "We just talked about honesty. About presence. And you couldn't even tell me you were meeting with her?"
"It wasn't like that," he said quickly. "She pitched an idea. I said no. It was one meeting — nothing happened. I swear."
"But something did happen," she said, taking a step back. "You chose silence. Again. You looked me in the eyes and asked for trust, and then you buried the truth because it was inconvenient."
"It wasn't betrayal," he said, pained. "It was… a misjudgment."
"No, Jace," she said. "A misjudgment is forgetting to call. This was a choice. A small one, maybe, but choices like this — they add up."
He moved toward her. "I didn't want to mess things up again. I was afraid."
Her eyes welled. "You should've been afraid of lying to me, not of telling me the truth."
Silence again. The cruel kind.
Then she picked up her coat.
"I need space," she said, her voice barely holding together. "And not the kind where I wait around hoping you figure yourself out. I mean real space. You said you wanted to become better. Now's the time to prove it — without me holding your hand."
Jace stood frozen, the apology dying in his throat as she opened the door.
"I still love you," he said quietly.
She paused, tears brimming.
"Then love me enough to be better when I'm not watching."
And with that, Eleena walked out — heart shattered, spine straight.
Because loyalty didn't mean staying through every betrayal.