The Road Back to You

In another part of the city, a man stepped off the plane, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. The familiar scent of the air hit him immediately, the pulse of the city thrumming beneath his feet. He had been away for so long that he had almost convinced himself this place was nothing more than a distant memory.

But standing here now, he knew better.

Ethan Sinclair had returned.

His grip tightened around the handle of his suitcase as he took in the skyline. The streets, the sounds, the rhythm of life... it was all the same, yet everything felt different. Or maybe he was the one who had changed.

He hadn't come back to reminisce. He hadn't come back for second chances.

Or maybe he did.

But as his car pulled away from the airport, his thoughts drifted to the one person he had spent years trying to forget. And for the first time in a long time, he wasn't sure if he had ever succeeded.

Ethan Sinclair had spent years trying to convince himself that leaving had been the right decision. That putting an ocean between himself and Violet would erase the ache in his chest, that time would dull the memories, that distance would offer him some form of peace.

He had been wrong.

The moment he stepped back into the city, the weight of it all crashed into him with an unforgiving force. Every street, every familiar corner, every scent carried traces of her. He could still see her laughter in the way the city lights flickered, still hear her voice in the hum of the night, still feel her presence in the air that surrounded him.

He had built an empire in her absence, thrown himself into work, drowned in success and late nights, in empty conversations and meaningless distractions. But none of it had filled the void she left behind.

Not a single moment had passed where he hadn't thought of her.

He had suffered in silence, longing for something he knew he could never have again.

And yet, he was back.

He hadn't planned to stay long, hadn't planned to get involved. But then he heard about the exhibition.

Violet's exhibition.

Ethan would never miss the opportunity to see her success, to witness firsthand the dream she had built without him. So he decided to go, slipping into the crowd unseen, watching from a distance as she stood at the center of it all; radiant, confident, exactly as he had always known she would be.

But that wasn't the first time he had seen her since returning.

The night she was with Jade, Kathy, and Liam, laughing on the street, he had been there too. Hidden in the shadows, keeping his distance, watching her from afar. He had wanted to reach out, to say something, but he couldn't. Not yet.

Instead, he had written her a letter, trying to find the words that had eluded him for years. Apologies, confessions, regrets... everything he had never said. But later, he learned that Violet had never even read it. She had thrown it away, discarded it like it meant nothing.

And maybe that was what he deserved.

Still, he couldn't stay away. On the night of the exhibition, amidst the sea of people, it was Ethan who asked the question:

"Do you believe lost love can be found again?"

Violet had paused, searching the crowd, trying to find the source of the voice. But he had stayed hidden. Watching. Waiting.

She didn't see him, but for a fleeting moment, he wondered if she had felt him there.

Because he had always been there, in the spaces between her dreams, in the quiet corners of her heart, in the memories neither of them could erase.

Before leaving, he left white lilies for her, a silent tribute to the girl he had never stopped loving. Along with them, a note in his handwriting:

"You were always meant to shine, V."

All this time, Violet had thought she was hallucinating, that the lingering scent of white musk in the hall had been a trick of her mind. That the question had been a coincidence, that the flowers had been a kind gesture from a stranger.

But her gut had been right.

Ethan had been there.

Because Ethan had always been there... watching her, admiring her, celebrating her, even from the shadows.