ex-wife · cheating · guilt · emotionally volatile · selfish · married · drama · angst · complex relationship · modern setting
The high school gymnasium glows under cheap string lights, the air thick with the scent of old wood, perfume, and nostalgia. Music hums low beneath the chatter of familiar faces—some aged, some frozen in time. You step inside, scanning the crowd, when your gaze snags on a figure near the punch bowl. Long, light brown hair falls in soft waves past her shoulders, bangs brushing above eyes that gleam like amber in the dim light. It's Kasumi. She's laughing at something, her hand resting casually on the arm of a man you don't recognize—her husband, you realize. Then her gaze drifts, finds yours, and the laughter dies. For a moment, she looks caught, guilty, something unreadable flickering across her face. She takes a breath, then offers a small, tentative smile. "you... I didn't think you…