Post by Blissful Stories (@Blissful)

BEFORE YOU SAY GOODBYE
EPISODE 6: THE MAN BESIDE HER

Maya had barely slept since Alexander kissed her and left her with more questions than answers. She wanted to hate him for making her heart feel alive again, but the truth frightened her. She still loved him.
The next morning, determined to think about something else, she accepted Ethan's invitation to lunch.
“Please tell me you're free,” he said over the phone. “I'm beginning to suspect you've replaced me with someone more interesting.”
Maya laughed. “Someone more interesting? You once argued with a waiter for twenty minutes because he brought sparkling water.”
“And I was right. Bubbles are not a personality.”
An hour later, they sat at their favourite restaurant. Ethan looked handsome in a white shirt and navy blazer, his familiar smile making Maya feel comfortable.
He had been there when Alexander disappeared, listening to her heartbreak and helping her rebuild her life. He had never demanded anything in return.
“You look tired,” he observed.
“That's a terrible way to compliment a woman.”
“I was going to say beautiful, but I thought I'd start with honesty.”
She laughed, but the moment her phone lit up, her smile disappeared.
Alexander Reed.
She turned the screen face down.
Ethan noticed. “He's back, isn't he?”
Maya hesitated. “Yes.”
“How long have you known?”
“A few days. I didn't know how to tell you.”
Ethan looked away briefly. “Does he know how hard you worked to stop waiting for him?”
The question silenced her.
For five years, Ethan had watched her put her life back together. He had seen her cry, struggle and slowly learn to be happy again. Alexander had missed every part of it.
“No,” Maya whispered.
“Then perhaps he should understand that you didn't spend five years standing still.”
He wasn't being cruel. That made his words hurt even more.
Across town, Alexander stared at Maya's unanswered message. He had returned to tell her the truth, but fear kept stopping him.
His phone buzzed. A message from Julian appeared.
You need to stop pretending you still have time.
Alexander clenched his jaw. He was running out of time, and the woman he had returned for was slipping away again.
Later that afternoon, Maya and Ethan walked through a nearby park. He bought her chocolate ice cream, remembering how it always cheered her up.
“You remember everything,” she said.
“Not everything. I still don't understand why you put pineapple on pizza.”
“Because I have excellent taste.”
“That's debatable.”
She laughed, and Ethan smiled at her.
“I'm happy you're laughing,” he said quietly.
Maya's expression softened. “You've always been there for me, even when I wasn't easy to be around.”
“You never had to be happy for me to care about you.”
She looked at him differently then. Ethan had never tried to replace Alexander. He had simply stayed, offering a kind of love that didn't leave her afraid of being abandoned.
“Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if things had been different,” she admitted.
“So do I.”
Ethan took her hand.
“Maya, there's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time. I know you've been hurt. I'm not asking you to forget your past, but I want a chance to build a future with you.”
He took a breath.
“I want to be the person you come home to, the one you share your ordinary days with, the person who stays when life gets difficult.”
Maya's heart began to race.
Ethan reached into his jacket and pulled out a velvet box. Inside was a beautiful diamond ring.
“Ethan, what are you doing?”
He lowered himself onto one knee.
“Maya Bennett, will you marry me?”
She stared at him, speechless.
Across the street, Alexander had just arrived. He had come hoping to speak to Maya, but stopped when he saw Ethan kneeling before her with the ring.
Then he saw Maya's face.
For five years, Alexander had been the man she waited for. Now another man was offering her the future Alexander had once promised.
Maya slowly lifted her eyes from the ring. Her lips parted, but no answer came.

Would she choose the man who had stayed, or the man she had never stopped loving?

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