the days that followed, Jasmine felt as if the world had collapsed around her. The apartment felt emptier, the silence deafening. She went through the motions of her life, but everything felt hollow without him.She spent long hours at work, burying herself in manuscripts and edits, trying to distract herself from the aching void Alex had left. Her friends noticed her distraction, but when they asked, she merely smiled and shrugged it off."Just busy with work," she would say, forcing a smile even as her heart felt heavy.But at night, when she returned home, the silence settled over her like a suffocating blanket. She replayed their last conversation over and over in her mind, searching for the words that could have changed the outcome, the gestures that might have convinced him to stay.A week later, she found herself standing in front of a small coffee shop they had visited often. The warm scent of coffee wafted through the air, but it couldn't penetrate the chill that had settled in her bones. She stepped inside, hoping to find a semblance of comfort, but instead, she was greeted by a wave of memories—laughter, shared smiles, the warmth of his hand in hers.Sitting at a small table, she ordered a coffee and tried to focus on her book, but her thoughts kept drifting back to Alex. Would he be okay? Would he regret his decision?As she sipped her coffee, she spotted a familiar figure across the room. Alex sat with a group of paramedics, his smile easy and relaxed, but she could see the flicker of something darker in his eyes. A weight that seemed to pull him down even in moments of joy.Her heart raced at the sight of him, torn between the urge to rush over and the instinct to respect his space. After a moment, she decided to leave, her heart heavy with the knowledge that he was moving on without her, even if he didn't seem to know it yet.