Jay's feet moved on their own. Her body, desperate, pulled her toward him as if the universe itself had no say in stopping her.
She stopped a few steps away, heart hammering so loudly she thought he might hear it.
"Keifer…" she whispered, trembling, hoping, praying that he would turn.
He didn't.
He looked up, scanning the street, but his eyes didn't register her. Not even a flicker.
Jay's stomach twisted painfully.
Then she saw her worst fear come to life.
A small hand slipped into his. His daughter's laughter bubbled softly as she tugged at him. And beside him, a woman — his wife. Her smile was easy, confident, gentle… and she took his hand, guiding him and their daughter forward.
Keifer didn't glance back.
He didn't recognize her.
Jay's chest felt hollow. Her knees buckled. She fell to the pavement, unable to breathe properly.
She had traveled all this way, followed every beat of her desperate heart, and found him…
but he was gone.
Truly gone.
The daughter's laughter drifted away.
The warmth in Keifer's eyes that had once been hers, now shared with someone else.
The woman's gentle smile — not meant for her, never meant for her — carrying him further and further from her reach.
Jay buried her face in her hands.
This is it… she thought, tears soaking her palms.
All the fights, all the anger, all the love I thought I could claim… it doesn't matter anymore. He's not mine. Never mine again.
The street around her blurred. The city noise, the footsteps, the laughter… none of it touched her.
Her heart had broken in a new, unbearable way: alive, but empty.
And for the first time, she understood the cruel truth of everything she had lost:
She hadn't just lost him when he died in her mind.
She had lost him forever in the world.
Alone, she stayed on the sidewalk, trembling and hollow, while the man she had loved more than life itself walked away with another, leaving her in silence and shadow.