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Chapter 12 - Chapter 10: Ashes of Spark

CHAPTER TEN: ASHES OF SPARK

(Two wicked weeks later)

LEO'S APARTMENT – NIGHT

A flicker of lightning outlines Leo's silhouette by the window. A soft rain falls outside. The apartment is dimly lit, scattered with memories he's not ready to clean up—photographs turned face down, coffee cups unwashed, a silk scarf hanging off the chair — Amara's.

LEO

(heavy, tired)

You ever stare into the fire so long that you start seeing the ashes before the flames even die?

(He moves to the table, lifts a crumpled note from Amara. He doesn't open it. He doesn't need to. The words have already etched themselves into his chest.)

FLASHBACK – . ART GALLERY

Amara laughs. Leo watches her, the world muted around them. Her fingers brush his as she hands him a poetry book.

AMARA

There's something reckless about Neruda. Like he writes the kind of love that ruins you in the end.

LEO

(smirking)

Maybe some endings are worth the wreckage.

BACK TO PRESENT – LEO'S APARTMENT – NIGHT

(Leo closes his eyes. The ache lingers.)

AMARA'S BEDROOM – SAME NIGHT

Amara sits on the edge of her bed, phone in hand. She's opened and closed Leo's message five times. The mirror across reflects someone she barely recognizes — hair unkempt, eyes shadowed by something deeper than tiredness.

After the crazy plan plotted by Zara two weeks ago, she's back to her lonely self

AMARA (V.O.)

What if love is a crime and I'm halfway through the sentence, too scared to ask for parole?

(She places the phone down. Breathes. Doesn't cry. She's too tired for tears tonight.)

BAR – NIGHT

Nina sits in the corner booth. Her lipstick is smudged from the drink. Her eyes dart to the door every few minutes — waiting, though she won't admit it. Zara walks in, spots her, hesitates, then approaches.

ZARA

You said it was urgent.

NINA

(sipping her drink)

I wanted to see your face when I told you I'm still in love with him.

ZARA

(flat)

Which one?

NINA

(smiles faintly)

There's only one man, Zara. You and I both know that.

ZARA

That man broke you. He shattered all of us. And you're still clutching the glass.

NINA

(calm, dangerous)

Because I'd rather bleed than forget.

Zara sits across from Nina now. An empty drink between them. The air is thick with unspoken tension.

ZARA (V.O.)

He proposed to me six months before the story of both you and Amara, before any of this. Before the bookstore. Before the beach. Before you. Before Amara.

NINA (V.O.)

But he never married you. He didn't choose you.

(Silence.)

ZARA

(softly)

He's not who you think he is, Nina.

NINA

Then tell me who he is.

(pause)

Tell me who he is when he's not pretending.

LEO'S BEDROOM – NIGHT

Leo lies awake. His phone buzzes.

TEXT FROM NINA:

"Come outside."

He doesn't move for a moment. Then he does.

LEO'S APARTMENT – MOMENTS LATER

Nina stands under the streetlight, hair damp from the drizzle. Her arms are folded, not for warmth, but defense.

LEO

What are you doing here, Nina?

NINA

I forgot how you look when you're not trying to be brave.

LEO

It's late.

NINA

You used to say time stopped when we kissed. Does it still?

(Beat. Silence.)

LEO

Don't say it. Don't ask for the spark. It's ash now. Burned, broken, buried.

NINA

(voice cracks)

I'm not asking you to choose.

(beat)

I just needed to remember that I once mattered.

LEO

You still do. That's the problem.

(Nina steps closer. He doesn't stop her. Their breaths mix in the cold air.)

LEO

If I close my eyes now, I might forget Amara's voice.

If I open them, I'll remember how Nina tastes when she lies.

(They almost kiss. He pulls back. She doesn't fight it. Just looks away.)

AMARA'S BEDROOM – SAME NIGHT

Amara dreams in flashes — Leo's laugh, Nina's hand in his, Zara's eyes in the rearview mirror. A sea. Fire. The smell of ashes. Her own guilt forming a noose.

AMARA

There's no room for three hearts in a coffin.

And someone is already digging.

LEO'S APARTMENT – EARLY MORNING

Leo returns inside, soaked. He leans against the door. Breathing. Barely.

LEO

I loved Amara with both hands.

Held Nina with a third I didn't know I had.

Promised Zara forever with lips that didn't mean it.

And now I'm watching myself burn in the reflection of three women I couldn't save.

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