

The One Who Stayed


Emma had loved Jake for six and a half years. It wasn’t the kind of love that came all at once, sweeping in like a summer storm. It was the slow, creeping kind—the kind that built itself out of inside jokes, shared playlists, long car rides, and the comfort of silence between two people who didn’t need to fill the air to feel close. He was her best friend. Her favorite person. Her constant. Jake had