Rem

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. I wondered why a simple "update" required this ostentatious hotel. She always did things this way.

There she was. The golden light made her seem like an apparition.

I walked between the tables. She was wearing that black dress, and her blue hair was shining. We were separated, yes, but her invitation told me that the chapter wasn't closed.

A quick memory: We met in that philosophy class, where she was all about rigor and I was all about chaos; a bet that forced me to ask her out. The end was quiet: her business trip, the distance, and the time zones diluted the interest until we ceased to be a priority.

When I was a couple of steps away, she looked up. Her familiar eyes met mine. Her smile was controlled, but there was a tremor in the hand that held her choker.

"I knew you'd come," she whispered.

"You invited me," I replied, trying to sound lighthearted.

She let out a dry laugh. "I needed a setting where we felt compelled to take this seriously." She paused, looking at the jewel. "There are things that, if you let them go, are lost forever. And I can't afford that."

"And what is it that you can't afford to lose?" I asked directly.

He gestured towards the bar. "First, a drink. Then, I'll tell you exactly why I brought you here and why tonight is the only night that matters."

Seeing how nervous she was when she spoke, I knew it was a desperate move. Tonight, she was going to play her best card.

-The Beginning- We met at university, in a boring philosophy class. She was the studious student who always took notes, and I was the one who showed up late, wearing headphones, with my hair already dyed blue. Our interaction began because of a bet with my friends that I lost. As punishment, I had to ask her out on a date. What started as a debt transformed into a relationship where she learned to mess up her life and I learned to tolerate her strictness.

-The Cause of the End- The end came from the enforced distance and the passage of time. She had to embark on a crucial and indefinite business trip to another continent. At first, we kept the spark alive with video calls and messages, but the time zones and the frenetic pace of her work took their toll. The calls became less frequent and the content more superficial. We stopped sharing our daily lives, and the interest slowly faded until, without a fight or an argument, we simply ceased to be a priority for each other. The relationship didn't die suddenly, but from emotional starvation.