The rain had just begun to fall, softly, like it knew it was interrupting something sacred.

They sat in the car, engine off, parked by the Hudson River. The city lights shimmered in the water, distant and blurry—like hope seen through tears.

Elias gripped the steering wheel, knuckles white, heart louder than the downpour. He had practiced this moment a thousand times. In mirrors. In dreams. In silence.

“You ever wonder,” he said quietly, “why I never bring girls around?”

Ivanna turned to him, brows slightly lifted. Her lipstick was a soft mauve, and the glow from the dashboard kissed her skin golden. “No,” she replied. “Figured you were just picky.”

He chuckled, but it cracked halfway through.

“It’s because of you,” he whispered.

Ivanna’s smile faltered.

Elias finally looked at her, really looked. “It’s always been you.”

She blinked slowly, eyes uncertain, hands folding in her lap. “Eli…”

He raised a hand, palm open—not to stop her words, but to catch whatever shards might fall next. “You don’t have to say anything. I just—I need to get this out.”

“I fell in love with you the day you told me your truth,” he said. “Not because of the courage it took, though God knows that shattered me. But because I realized you trusted me enough to be real. No one’s ever trusted me like that.”

The silence between them grew heavier than the rain.

“I know I’m not what you want. Or maybe I’m not what you need. And I get it—I’m just the guy who brings you empanadas when you’re sad, the one who helps move furniture, walks you to your car. I’m the safe one. The ‘thank you’ text. The ‘you’re such a good friend’ speech.”

Ivanna’s eyes glistened, but she said nothing.

“And I’d do it all again,” he added. “Because loving you—unfair as it feels—made me a better man.”

He turned back toward the wheel, wiped his face quickly.

“You don’t have to love me back. I just needed you to know I did.”

Ivanna touched his hand—brief, trembling. “You’ll always be my heart, Eli,” she said. “But not in the way you want.”

He nodded. Once. Twice. And then smiled.

“I know,” he whispered. “I know.”

But as he pulled away from the curb, something in him stayed behind.