KESTER.

    SIX MONTHS LATER.

    It waste afternoon, and the rain outside was heavy.

    Dr. Ansel leaned back in his chair with his legs crossed neatly as usual, pen resting on the edge of his yellow notepad, and his ugly sses resting on the bridge of his nose.

    Me? My arms were locked tight across my chest, like I was holding something broken inside me together.

    “So that’s it,” I muttered in a t but tight voice. “Six months. I showed up. I talked. I didn’t throw a chair through your window. I didn’t burn the ce down. I’m still standing. That should be good enough.”

    Dr. Ansel studied me the way a surgeon studies an open wound with curiosity, patience, and a little too steady forfort.

    He tilted his head, calm as ever. “Is it good enough for you?” he asked.

    I didn’t answer. I looked toward the rain dripping down the ss like the sky was leaking secrets it never wanted to share.

    “I didn’te here to cry on couches or to get soft,” I muttered. “I came here to get my shit together. To get back in control. To stop waking up angry at a world that didn’t give a damn when I wanted. To stop cursing the woman who called herself my mother. To stop thinking I’m one wrong move away from failing my wife… or my kids.”

    I exhaled hard, my shoulders dropping a fraction. “So yeah. I’m better. Better than I was. So why the hell do we need to keep digging?”

    Dr. Ansel slowly shook his head and adjusted his sses, “Because you’re not finished, Kester. You’re just learning to live with the silence after the gunfire. But that silence isn’t peace. The war inside you hasn’t ended. It’s only waiting.”

    A dry, bitterugh escaped me. I’m tired of bleeding on a couch. I thought six months would be enough. Turns out healing doesn’t care about my deadline.”

    “Exactly,” he said gently. “And that isn’t failure. That’s honesty. For years, you survived by running faster than the shadows behind you. Therapy… this is the first time you’ve stopped

    long enough to hear your own footsteps.”

    His words crawled under my skin, burrowed deep. I clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to look

    away.

    “Six months brought you here. Imagine what twelve could give you.”

    The rain hit harder outside, as if the sky was agreeing with him.

    “She deserves better than a man who still twitches in his sleep and snaps when someone

    touches his shoulder.” Dr. Ansel added.

    For a long time, I sat there, staring at the rain. My hands slowly uncurled from my arms,

    resting open on my knees.

    And then, I nodded. Not to him. Not even to myself. But to the life I refused to lose. “For her.”

    Dr. Ansel’s pen scratched against the pad. Then he set it down.

    “Good,” he said quietly. “Then let’s do this.”

    FIVE YEARS LATER.

    KASMINE.

    The house was alive withughter. The kind that rang so pure and unbroken, bouncing off the

    walls until even the silence felt warm.

    Kael and ira tumbled across the living room floor, little feet chasing each other in circles

    until they crashed in a heap of giggles. Their cheeks were flushed, eyes sparkling, voices so full

    of life it made my chest ache.

    The door opened, and more light spilled in. “Here they are, our little partners in crime!” Non boomed as he and Brie stepped in with wide smiles, with their daughter squealing as she raced

    to hug ira, while their boy toddled straight into Kester’s waiting hands.

    My husband lifted him easily, ruffling the boy’s hair as the child squealed with delight. “Getting heavier,” he said, his deep chuckle rumbling in his chest. “You’ll be running my twins ragged before long.”

    “Good,” Non grinned, “That’s the n.”

    The twins squealed back, hugging their friends like they hadn’t seen them in years instead of

    days.

    “You two ready for an adventure?” Brie grinned, crouching to Kael’s level.

    “Yes!” Kael shouted, bouncing on his toes as he ran into Non’s arms.

    “Come on, troublemakers,” Non chuckled, scooping Kael up onto his shoulders with ease.

    Brie lifted ira’s tiny hand and kissed it before tugging her close. “The show starts soon. We don’t want to miss it.”

    ira clutched her little bag and announced proudly, “We’re going to see the big animals!”

    “Don’t spoil the surprise,” Non teased, his eyes crinkling as he shot me a smile.

    “Thank you,” I said softly, my chest swelling as I bent to kiss both my babies on their cheeks. “Be good, alright?”

    “We will, Mama!” ira promised, hugging me tight before Brie led her to the door.

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