The sky over the sanctuary shifted from rose-gold to bruised purple as twilight rolled in. Inside the crumbled structure they called home, Kai wasworking again—fingers dancing over code, eyes scanning strings like they were poetry.Kade lingered in the doorway, a plate of warmed rations in her hands.“You need to eat,” she said softly.Kai barely looked up. “In a bit.”She walked in anyway, setting the plate beside him. “You always say that.”A small smile tugged at his lips. “Because it’s always true.”She sat down beside him, not close enough to touch—but close enough to want to. Her voice, when she spoke again, was quiet.“You know, it wasn’t always this strange between us.”Kai’s fingers paused over the keys.Kade’s eyes searched his face. “We were something once. You remember that, right?”He exhaled slowly, eyes returning to the screen. “I remember everything. I remember that I liked you. Really liked you. But you didn't want to commit. You didn't want to make it "complicated",”

Kade’s POVThe Sanctuary had never felt this cold before.Not physically—Kai had finally hacked into the temperature controls and adjusted them to a comfortable, human warmth. But somehow, the air was still freezing around me.It was in the way they walked past me, their steps synced like something rehearsed. The way Nyx would smile, smug and soft all at once, like she owned every inch of him. Maybe she did. Hell, maybe she always had.I was the one out of place now.I stood near the small wash station, scrubbing my hands clean of grease from repairing one of the salvaged scanners, trying not to look at the door. But my eyes kept flicking to it. Waiting. Hoping.He didn’t come.He always used to check in after I worked on something. A quick grin, a sarcastic “try not to blow anything up,” maybe a smirk that made my heart twist the wrong way. But today? Nothing.I heard a laugh—his laugh. From down the corridor.Nyx’s voice followed, low and honeyed, too soft to make out the words but