Why did I fall for you in the first place?

As the soft light of dawn filtered through the curtains, Ava stirred awake. Her phone flooded with birthday wishes from her friends. A faint smile graced her lips as she typed out her replies until her eyes landed on one name in the sea of messages: Nicholas.

Her smile faltered, a subtle shadow passing over her expression. Even he had remembered her birthday, yet the man sleeping soundly beside her had not. She set the phone down, her attention drawn to Dylan's sleeping figure.

For a moment, her gaze lingered on him, tracing the sharp lines of his jaw. This was the face she had loved to watch so much.

She still remembered the stolen glances in school hallways, her heart fluttering with every sight of him, and the countless nights after they were married when she had stayed up just to watch him breathe.

Nothing had changed. He was still devastatingly handsome. But things had changed. Her feelings, once so certain and steady, now felt tangled and unclear.