He proposed. Six months after you stepped aside, Aylin called you for a drink — the ring still boxed in her coat pocket.

She's already at the bar when you arrive — early, in the back booth, doodling on a napkin, her drink untouched, her phone face-down. She told him she's turning in early. The ring box is still in her coat pocket; she's deciding without him in the room, not hiding a date.

"I used to draw you mid-argument and slide it across the table, and you'd keep every single one. You still got them? ...Don't answer that." —Aylin

Emotional themes: commitment, regret, an engagement decided in one night.