The morning after their kiss should have been perfect.
But Mira knew better.
Life had a way of unraveling peace just when you started to hold onto it.
She stood by the window, watching the sleepy neighborhood stir to life. Her phone buzzed on the table beside her. She ignored it once, twice—but the third call made her glance.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
Her stomach clenched.
She answered.
"Hello?"
"Mira Langston?" the voice was clipped, professional.
"Yes?"
"This is Linda from Heathrow Interiors. I'm calling in regard to your termination. We've reviewed your appeal."
Mira's breath caught. Her appeal had been a desperate email sent weeks ago, a shot in the dark.
"You're being offered reinstatement," Linda said. "But there's a condition."
Mira sat down slowly. "What kind of condition?"
"You'd have to relocate back to the branch in London within ten days. The project you lost… well, we've found another client willing to pick it up. They specifically requested your design."
Her pulse raced.
London.
Her old job.
Her career, her life before Noah.
"Can I think about it?" she asked.
"You have forty-eight hours."
The call ended. She sat frozen, staring at the screen.
Noah appeared moments later, damp from a shower, hair tousled, looking every bit like someone she could love forever.
But love wasn't always enough.
And she was Mira Langston. A woman with dreams. With goals she hadn't abandoned.
"You okay?" he asked, sitting across from her.
She hesitated. "I got a call… from my old job. They want me back."
His face barely moved, but she saw it—the tension around his jaw, the flicker of hurt.
"And?"
"They want me to move back to London."
Silence stretched.
"I should be happy," she said, more to herself. "This is what I fought for."
"But?" he prompted gently.
"But I don't know anymore." Her voice cracked. "I thought I did. Before you."
He reached out, touching her hand. "Mira… you don't have to choose me. But whatever you choose, do it for you. Not guilt. Not fear."
She looked down at their hands. "What if I lose you?"
His thumb brushed hers. "Then you'll know it was real. But if you stay just because of me, you'll resent it. Eventually."
Her throat tightened.
She was being offered the very thing she once cried over losing.
But now… now there was a man who saw her, not just her work.
And for the first time, Mira realized the hardest choices weren't between right and wrong. They were between two kinds of love.
One she built.
And one that surprised her when she thought she was done hoping.