Page 128 of Baby Surprise for my Brother's Best Friend

"It never felt like a mistake to me. After that night, Sophie, I knew. I knew there wasn’t anyone else. Not for me."

I swallow hard, my throat burning.

"You didn’t just change my life," he whispers. "You became it."

He lingers there for a long moment, forehead resting lightly against mine, like if he just stays still enough, time might stop too.

His voice is soft in my ear. “I knew how you felt. How wrong I was for you. I never deserved you. So, I kept making mistake after mistake, hollow on the inside, except for that one little truth every cell in my body screamed to me. The fact that without you, I didn’t have a life. I was just waiting for you to realize it too.”

My hands fist into the fabric of his shirt without thinking, clutching him closer.

He doesn’t pull away.

"I'm coming back for you,dolcezza. As soon as this blows over. I promise."

We stand there in the hush of the morning, breathing each other in, memorizing what it feels like to fit together.

Finally, Alessio leans back, his eyes burning into mine one last time.

One last everything.

He steps away.

Each inch feels like a tear in my chest.

He crosses the room, grabs his bag.

And then the door clicks softly behind him. But it reverberates in my chest.

Tears didn’t come while he was here.

But the second that door shuts,

I break.

Because, deep down, it doesn’t feel like a temporary goodbye.

It feels final.

I curl up on the couch, gripping the edge of the blanket he used just last night. I pull it tighter against my chest, burying my face in the faint trace of him still clinging to the fabric.

My heart stutters painfully against my ribs, every breath a reminder of everything I’ve lost.

Maybe this is what I get for believing in fairy tales.

My phone buzzes on the coffee table, cutting through the heavy silence.

A reminder notification lights up the screen.

Upcoming Appointment: Ultrasound – Five Days.

I stare at it, my chest hollow.

He won’t be there.

30

SOPHIE

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