THE SPACE BETWEEN US

The elevator doors closed.Jessica stared straight ahead. She could see both their reflections in the polished doors, her standing slightly to the left, him behind her.

 She didn't turn around, even though she felt him behind her like heat she shouldn't acknowledge 

The elevator hummed softly behind her, too calm for how loud her thought suddenly felt , Floor two. Floor three. She tried to breathe normally, but failed anyway.

Michael didn't speak .Neither did she. Floor four.The doors slid open, Jessica moved to step out ,and her heel caught the elevator gap. 

Her body stumbled backward. No warning. No time to catch herself. She fell back into him. His arms came around her immediately, instinctively, fast, steady. 

Her back pressed against his chest. His face was right beside hers. Everything stopped.

 She could feel his breath. Could feel him go completely still too, like the stumble had surprised something out of him that he wasn't ready for. 

Neither of them moved. For one dangerous second the world was very small and very quiet.

Then Jessica straightened. Stepped forward. Out of his arms. Out of that space. 

She walked away without a word, not trusting herself to slow down even if she wanted to, didn't look back. Just kept walking until the hospital doors opened and the cold air hit her face.

[OUTSIDE]

She raised her hand at the first car she saw and pulled the door open before it fully stopped. Sat down. Closed the door.

"Where to?" the driver asked. 

She gave her address. Quietly. Like even her voice was tired.The car moved. She turned her face to the window.

 The city passed ,people walking, shops open, life happening everywhere like nothing had changed. She watched it all without really seeing any of it.

Her reflection stared back at her from the glass. Tired eyes. Lips pressed together. A face that had held itself together for too long today. She swallowed hard and kept her face still, Her eyes didn't move from the window 

She just watched the road, blinking slowly at the buildings. The lights passed one after another. And somewhere between the hospital and home.

Her fingers stayed pressed against her chest until it hurts,

Like she was trying to hold something in that was already slipping.

 The mansion was quiet when Jessica got home.She closed the front door and leaned against it for a second.Nothing moved, Just silence.

She slipped off her shoes and headed upstairs.The hallway lights glowed softly against the walls.

The same walls,the same paintings. Yet tonight it felt unfamiliar. Jessica pushed open her bedroom door, Her bag slid from her shoulder onto the chair.

She sat on the edge of the bed.For a while she just sat there.Doing nothing, Thinking about nothing.Trying very hard not to think at all, Her gaze drifted to the photograph on the dresser.

Their wedding photo.Michael stood beside her,Handsome, Distant, Untouchable. Jessica stared at it.

Then looked away. The room suddenly felt too quiet. She lay back on the bed and covered her eyes with one arm.A slow breath escaped her, The first tear slipped into her hair before she noticed it was there.

Her phone buzzed. Maya.

"You okay? You went quiet."

Jessica stared at the message. Then typed I'm fine. Just tired.

She put the phone face down.

She walked to the window and pressed her forehead lightly against the glass. The city was still out there. Lit up and indifferent.

All she knew was the feeling of his arms catching her before she fell. And how quickly she had stepped away from them.

It doesn't matter, she told herself.

But it did. And that was the part she didn't know how to fix.

[MICHAEL]

Michael didn't move.He stood exactly where she had left him. His arms still felt the ghost of her , the weight of her stumbling back, the brief second she had been right there and then wasn't.

He looked down at his hands.

Then back at the doors she had walked through.

The hospital continued around him like nothing had happened. Nurses passed. Phones rang. Voices echoed down the hallway. Nobody noticed.

He pressed the elevator button. Stepped back inside.

Stood in the same spot where she had been.

The doors slid shut. He glanced down. A faint mark stained the edge of his collar. Her lipstick.

From when she had fallen against him, His fingers brushed it. Then stopped.

The elevator began to descend.

For weeks, he had convinced himself the distance between them didn't matter. That the silence was easier. Safer.

That Jessica was simply part of an arrangement.

Nothing more. But standing alone in the space she had just left behind, it didn't sound true anymore.

The elevator reached the ground floor.The doors opened.

Michael didn't move immediately.

Because for the first time since Jessica entered his life, something felt wrong. Not inconvenient. Not complicated.

Wrong. As if he was already losing something he had never allowed himself to keep. His jaw tightened.

Then his phone vibrated. A message flashed across the screen.

Michael frowned and opened it. His expression changed instantly.

Something colder than anger settled in his chest. For the first time in years, something he thought was buried resurfaced