Noah took Naledi back to her old home. The house was quieter than Naledi had ever remembered.
It didn't feel like home anymore — it felt like walking through a museum of a life she no longer belonged to.
Noah stood beside her silently, his hand lightly brushing hers as they stepped inside. His presence was the only thing keeping her from crumbling.
She moved quickly up the stairs, heart pounding, forcing herself not to look at the family pictures on the wall.
Pictures of a life that had already shattered beyond repair.
She packed mechanically, grabbing what she needed. Essentials. Supplies for Tiana. A few clothes. She was zipping up the last bag when she heard it —
The thunderous pounding of footsteps up the stairs.
Tiana.
Naledi barely had time to brace herself before the girl stormed into the room.
"You think you can just LEAVE?!" Tiana shrieked, her voice shaking with fury.
"You think you can just run off with HIM like some pathetic whore?"
For a moment, Naledi just stared at her.
At the daughter, she had loved with her whole heart.
The daughter she had sacrificed everything for.
Something inside her—something small and tired and broken — snapped.
Without a word, Naledi stepped forward and slapped Tiana across the face.
The crack echoed through the room.
Tiana gasped, hand flying to her cheek, wide eyes filling with tears.
"You will not speak to me like that again," Naledi said, her voice low and shaking with anger.
"I am your mother. I have loved you more than life itself. I stayed when everyone else left. I loved you when you hated yourself. I fought for you when no one else cared."
Tiana trembled, lips parting, but Naledi wasn't done.
"And what do I get in return? Disrespect. Betrayal. You sided with a woman who would throw you away the second she gets bored. I coddled you, Tiana. I protected you from every storm — but now you've become the storm."
Tiana's tears spilled over. "Mom—"
Naledi shook her head, blinking back her own.
"No. I am done begging for scraps of love. You want Melissa? Fine. Go to her.
But never forget who stood in the fire for you when no one else would."
The silence after her words was deafening.
She turned to Noah, who had been standing in the doorway, his jaw clenched, his eyes burning with a protective fury that made her chest ache.
Without another glance at Tiana, Naledi grabbed her bag and said,
"Let's go."
They walked out together, leaving behind the ruins of a broken home.
Outside, the rain poured relentlessly from the sky, drenching the world in cold silver.
Naledi barely made it to the car before she broke.
The sob tore from her chest, raw and ugly, and she sank to her knees on the driveway, the rain plastering her hair to her face.
She cried for everything.
For Tiana. For Shawn.
For the woman she used to be.
"No, no, no—" Noah was there instantly, dropping to his knees beside her.
He pulled her into his arms without hesitation, holding her as if he could shield her from the world.
"I'm here," he murmured against her soaked hair.
"I'm here, Naledi. I'm not going anywhere."
She clutched him desperately, sobbing into his chest.
The rain washed over them both, but neither moved.
In that moment, she realized something.
She didn't want to go back.
She didn't want to fix what was broken beyond repair.
She wanted this.
She wanted him.
Noah pulled back slightly, his hands cradling her face.
Their eyes locked, rain dripping down their faces, their hearts laid bare.
Without thinking, without second-guessing, Naledi leaned in — and Noah met her halfway.
Their kiss was desperate, shattering, everything they had held back for too long.
The rain, the heartbreak, the years of loneliness — it all poured into that one kiss.
Naledi clung to him like he was the only thing keeping her from drowning.
And maybe he was.
Maybe he always had been.