Zara's POV
Today was the last day with Zen—his last day of seeing me. I lay awake all night, my mind racing with thoughts and emotions. I reminded myself that I was making this choice out of love for Zen and a commitment to my career, a path I had fought hard to build.
Yesterday, I effectively kept my distance from Zen. After breakfast, he left the house and didn't return until later that night. When he stood at my door in the middle of the night, caught in a moment of hesitation, I could feel the weight of that silence, him wanting to speak to me. In the end, he opted not to come in and headed back to his room.
Watching him stand there broke my heart. Despite the way I had treated him lately, he still wanted to reach out. The old Zen wouldn't have cared at all.
Now, it was early morning, and I made my way down for breakfast, fully aware of who would be sitting at the table. This was my final act to set everything into motion.