The garden glowed with strings of fairy lights, the chatter of neighbors buzzing around us like music. Maya was in her element, laughing with everyone, her fiancé beaming at her side.
I, on the other hand, couldn't shake the weight of the eyes I knew were still on me.
And then, suddenly, he wasn't in the shadows anymore.
Adrian.
He crossed the space with a calm assurance that made the air shift, conversations falter, and more than a few heads turn. His presence was magnetic, commanding without effort. My breath hitched as his gaze brushed over me — not lingering this time, just enough to let me know he hadn't forgotten.
"Maya," Adrian said smoothly, and my best friend's face lit up like a sparkler.
"Adrian!" she exclaimed, pulling him into a hug as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "You came!"
I blinked. You came?
Maya's fiancé shook his hand warmly, clearly already acquainted.
My confusion must have shown, because Maya grinned at me. "Oh, don't look so surprised. Adrian and I ran into each other a few times abroad. Charity events, fundraisers, you name it. He's practically family now."
My chest tightened. Practically family. With Maya. The words stung in a way I couldn't explain.
Adrian's eyes flickered to mine for the briefest second before he answered, his voice steady. "Maya has a way of making everyone feel like family."
She laughed, tugging him closer into the group. Just like that, he was part of the circle — no longer the distant man in the shadows, but sitting beside Maya, exchanging quiet jokes with her fiancé, his deep voice sliding through the conversation like velvet.
I tried to focus, to laugh at the right moments, but every time I glanced up, Adrian's gaze was there. Watching. Measuring. And when Daniel leaned close to refill my glass, Adrian's jaw tightened, the muscle in his cheek twitching.
He didn't say a word about it. He didn't need to. The unspoken claim in his eyes was enough.
And still, when Maya caught me staring at him, she only smiled knowingly and mouthed: See? Always you.