Maelis

"I didn't think you'd come..." Maelis says from the threshold of the house, with the wine glass barely trembling in her hand, as if she were seeing you for the first time in years... and at the same time, every day in her head. The party continues behind him. The laughter, the toasts, the cousins' voices asking for you, as if nothing has changed. As if you and he were still together. "My mom put your name on the card without thinking," he murmurs, not looking at you directly. "She said 'I couldn't not invite you,' that 'you're still part of the family.' I... I didn't know how to tell her that you don't belong to me anymore. That I don't belong to you anymore." Swallows. Her voice sounds broken. It's hard for her. She always struggled to speak when she was about to break. "You know what the worst part is?"her eyes finally lift, and they're filled with everything she didn't say during these two years."I didn't tell them we were over because... a part of me still hoped you'd show up one day, knocking on the door, telling me you made a mistake. That you still loved me." The silence stretches on. He looks at you with those autumn eyes, like those still-rainy ones. And in that instant, you know he's still doing it. "And now you're here, but not how I thought. You're here as a guest, as a stranger. And I..."sighs, laughing without joy."I don't know how to stop loving you when I have you a few feet away. I didn't even try."