The sound of soccer cleats running around, the ball bouncing between passes. Cohen Gilovich moved across the field with smooth, practiced steps. Every pass, every kick showed how many years he had trained. Sweat dripped down his brow, but his mind remained focused...until a single thought shattered his concentration.
Eiress Kaliinnich.
For three years, he had buried the memory beneath victories and relentless training, pretending it didn't haunt the quiet moments between matches. But it was always there, lurking in the silence before sleep, in the way rain hit the sidewalk, in the scent of coffee too bitter to swallow.
He dribbled, looked for the goal, and took a shot, yet in his mind, he was somewhere else.
It had been a sun shower that day, the kind of rain that felt like a contradiction. Eiress still remembered how the sunlight glowed through the rain, casting a glow on the sidewalk outside the café where everything had ended.
"I'm leaving tonight."
She had stared at him, fingers tightening around her cup as her hand got wet from her grip. Her heart had stumbled, but her voice had stayed steady.
"You're serious?"
He nodded. She had expected an explanation, maybe a hesitation in his tone. But there was none. Just quiet certainty.
She could have asked him to stay. But she knew better. Some things were not meant to be fought for.
So, she had stood, chair scraping against the floor, her pulse hammering in her ears.
"This is it then." She smiled as wide as she can and turned back.
It rained harder as she walked away, but she kept her pace, like she was trying to escape the pain in her heart.
Now, three years later, her name still held weight in his mind, still unraveled him at the worst possible moment.
"Cohen! Focus!"
The coach's voice snapped him back to the game. His opponent had the ball. Cohen ran to catch up, but his thoughts were elsewhere, tangled in memories of a girl who had once walked away without looking back.
Unfinished conversations. Unspoken regrets.
And now, he was here again.
Fate had a cruel way of reopening old wounds.