The city didn't feel the same when they got back.
It wasn't that anything had changed physically—the same crowded sidewalks, the same blaring horns, the same relentless pace that had once defined their lives. But something inside them had shifted. The noise didn't get under their skin the way it used to. The pressure didn't sit as heavy on their chests.
For the first time in a long time, they weren't reacting.
They were choosing.
Their apartment, still modest and temporary, felt different too. Warmer. Lived-in. Like a space that held them instead of just housing them.
Sienna dropped her bag by the door and kicked off her shoes with a soft sigh. "I missed this," she said, glancing around.
Alessandro raised an eyebrow. "You missed the tiny kitchen and the questionable heating?"
She smiled, walking over to him. "I missed us here. This version of us."
That landed deeper than anything else she could have said.
