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The building felt different after Veronica left, not quieter, not calmer just… unsettled. Like something unfinished had been left behind.
Cassy stayed at her desk longer than she needed to, typing rechecking, scrolling anything to avoid thinking about the hallway, about the door, about her.
But every few minutes, her eyes still drifted toward Caleb's office and every time, it was closed.
"Miss Williams."
She flinched slightly, then looked up.
Caleb stood there watching her, not through glass, not from distance. Right there.
"Yes, sir?" she said softly, careful again, too careful.
"Come with me." His voice was steady but different, not demanding, not cold, just… final.
Cassy hesitated for half a second. Then stood and followed.
They didn't go far. Just the rooftop again. The place where everything had started to blur. The wind was stronger today, stripped everything down, silence felt louder up here.
Cassy stood near the railing, waiting.
Caleb didn't speak immediately. That alone made her uneasy because Caleb always spoke first, always controlled the space but not today.
"You heard everything," he said finally.
Cassy didn't deny it. "…Yes." A pause. "I didn't mean to."
Silence.
Caleb nodded slightly. "I know." That was all but it wasn't enough, not anymore.
Cassy turned slightly toward him. "…Is she coming back?" she asked carefully.
Caleb's jaw tightened. "I don't know." Honest. Again. Too honest.
Cassy nodded slowly. "…She doesn't seem like she's done."
That made him look at her properly. "No," he said quietly. "She isn't."
Silence.
Cassy exhaled softly. "…Do you want her to be?" That question changed the air instantly.
Caleb didn't answer right away because that wasn't a simple question, not anymore. He turned slightly toward the city. Then said quietly— "That version of me is gone."
Cassy frowned slightly. "…What does that mean?"
Caleb looked at her now, really looked like he was choosing carefully, like every word mattered too much. "It means," he said slowly, "I don't go back."
Silence.
Cassy's heart tightened slightly. "…Even if she wants you to?"
A pause. "Yes." Immediate and certain.
That should've been the end of it but it wasn't because something still lingered in his expression, something unresolved, something human.
Cassy stepped closer slightly not too much, just enough. "…Then why does it still feel like she matters?" she asked softly.
Silence.
Caleb didn't answer immediately because the truth wasn't clean, it never was. "Because she was part of a time I can't erase," he said quietly. A pause. "But she is not my present."
That word— Present, it landed differently.
Cassy looked away slightly. "…And what is your present?" she asked. Soft, careful and almost afraid of the answer.
Silence, long and heavy.
Caleb turned toward her fully and for the first time there was no hesitation in his gaze. "You," he said. Simple direct and unavoidable.
Cassy froze not dramatically, not loudly and just… still. "…Me?" she whispered.
Caleb nodded once. "I don't know what this is," he admitted. A pause. "But it doesn't leave when you're gone."
Silence. That was it no control, no strategy, no distance and just truth.
Cassy's breath caught slightly. "…That's not fair," she said softly.
A faint shift in his expression, almost a question.
"You keep saying things like that," she added. "But you never take them back."
Caleb stepped closer not closing the space completely just enough to be undeniable. "I don't take back what's true," he said.
Silence.
Cassy looked at him for a long moment and whispered, "…Then what am I supposed to do with that?"
Caleb didn't answer immediately because for once he didn't have control over the outcome. "Stay," he said quietly not an order, not a demand, just… a choice he was asking her to make.
Cassy held his gaze, the wind moved between them, the city moved below them and everything else kept going but they didn't.
And for the first time— Cassy didn't immediately step back.