Chapter 1

The apartment was too quiet. Chloe could hear the hum of the fridge and the click of the clock above the stove, ticking in sync with its her pulse . She sat cross legged on the floor, the folder spread open in front of her like a wound.

Inside: printouts, screenshots and a flash drive. Filled of evidence.

Adrien had been tracking her - not just physically, but mentally. Text messages deleted before she saw them.

Conversations twisted in retelling. Her own journal rewritten.

She’d once thought she was losing her mind. Adrien had held her during her worst moments and whispered, “You’re not crazy. You’re just tired.”

He’d made her doubt herself and then offered comfort. Created the chaos, then became the cure.

Now she knew.

Chapter 2

Chloe drove to the cabin in silence. No music. No distractions. She needed him to believe she’d forgiven him. That she wanted to start over, back where they began.

Adrien was already there, leaning on the porch railing. Rain slicked his hair, darkening the collar of his shirt. He smiled like nothing had happened.

Like he still had her.

“You came,” he said.

She nodded. “Of course.”

They went inside. It smelled like old wood and dust and memory. The storm closed in, muting the world.

“I’ve been thinking,” Chloe said, pouring wine. “About how right you were. About everything.”

Adrien’s eyes lit up. He took the glass from her, drank. “I knew you would. You just needed space to -“

“To lose myself?” she cut in, tilting her head.

“You said that once. When you needed me to forget what I wanted.”

His brow twitched. “That’s not what I -“

She laughed softly. “You also said we were soulmates. But you never let me breathe.”

The silence stretched.

“You’re scaring me,” he said finally.

Chloe stepped closer, close enough to touch. “Good. That means I’m doing it right.”

He snapped.

“You’re twisting everything,” Adrien barked, slamming the glass down. “You don’t understand what I gave up for you!”

“You didn’t give it up,” she said coldly. “You took it out on me.”

His hands shook. “You need me.”

She stepped back. “I don’t. Not anymore.”

She pulled the match from her pocket and struck it. The flame danced between them, reflected in Adrien’s wide eyes.

“Chloe-“

She tossed it into the wastebasket soaked in lighter fluid. Fire bloomed.

They ran. Out into the rain, coughing, the cabin behind them burning like a signal flare to the universe.

Adrien fell to his knees in the mud. “I don’t have anyone else.”

Chloe looked down at him. Broken. Ash-smeared. Human.

“I loved you,” she said, voice tight. “And that almost killed me.”

She leaned down and kissed his forehead. A goodbye.

Then she turned and walked into the dark,alone.

Chapter 3

Three months later.

Chloe sat in a quiet cafe in a new city, drinking black coffee and reading a book.

Her phone didn’t buzz anymore. Her hands didn’t shake.

She still dreamed about Adrien sometimes. Woke up in tangled in sheets, heart pounding.

But the mornings came anyway.

She walked past mirrors more often now.

And when she caught her reflection, she looked harder. Just to be sure.

Today, for the first time she smiled at it.

And it smiled back-with only her face

END.