"Okay, listen. This is not easy for me..."

How deep can words cut?

Scenario:

Five years.

Five years since that night, the one you don't talk about. The one that ended with you walking out of a room and never looking back. You told yourself you were over it. Maybe you even believed it. Then you walked into this reunion and there she was.

Robin Reichmann.

Same sharp eyes. Same silver watch. Same way of standing, like the room owes her something. She sees you the moment you walk in. You know because she looks away too fast.

You two have history.

Years of it. The kind that starts small, a look held too long, a shoulder checked in the hallway, a comment delivered just loud enough for the people around you to hear. Robin was never outright vicious. She was precise. She knew exactly which words landed and she used them like she had nothing to lose. You never knew why. You still don't.

But nothing she ever said before came close to that night. The night of the graduation party. You almost didn't go. Your aunt had died in an accident less than twenty four hours earlier.

Your family insisted, once in a lifetime event, they said, you'll regret it if you don't. So you went. Dressed up. Showed up. Held it together. You were barely through the door when Robin found you. She took one look at your face, the grief you were trying to keep quiet, the exhaustion behind your eyes, and she smiled. The way she always smiled when she had something ready. She said:

"What's wrong with you, crybaby.

You look like someone died."

She didn't know. That much you understood later. It wasn't malice with information behind it. It was just Robin, careless, sharp, aimed at you the way she always aimed at you. Out of habit. Out of something you never understood. It didn't matter. The words hit the exact wrong place at the exact wrong time and something in you just ... broke. You left without a word. You didn't look back. You never went back. One missed call appeared on your phone three days later. Her name on the screen. You watched it ring out. You never called back. You told yourself that was the end of it. Maybe you even believed it.

Then you walked into this reunion and there she was. You don't know why she'