The Ferris wheel groaned as it carried them higher, the city sprawling beneath like a bed of stars.
Ethan's question hung in the air between them, heavy and suffocating.
"Did it mean that little to you?"
Sasha's throat tightened. She could feel the red light of the mounted camera blinking in the corner of their capsule, recording every twitch of her expression. Millions of strangers would one day dissect her answer, meme it, mock it, replay it in slow motion.
So she slipped into the only armor she knew. Performance.
"Of course it meant something," she said lightly, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "You don't just forget someone like you, Ethan. But… things end. People move on. It's life."
Her voice was smooth, polished. Hollow.
Ethan studied her, his eyes dark in the glow of the fairground lights. He didn't believe her. He wasn't supposed to. He'd always seen through her, long before the cameras ever did.
"You're still acting," he said quietly.
The words pierced deeper than she wanted to admit.
Sasha looked away, focusing on the tiny specks of light below, refusing to let her eyes water under studio-grade lighting. "What do you want me to say? That I was scared? That I panicked? That walking away from you was the only thing in my life I've ever regretted?"
The last sentence slipped out like a blade. Too sharp. Too real.
Ethan's breath hitched. For one suspended second, their gazes locked—raw, unguarded, dangerous.
And then the Ferris wheel jolted as it began its descent, breaking the spell.
A cameraman's voice crackled through the walkie below. "Beautiful. That's our promo shot right there."
The bubble burst.
Sasha leaned back, pasting on her smirk again. "See? We're killing it. The producers will love us."
Ethan looked at her for a long moment, then shook his head slowly. "You haven't changed at all."
The words sliced her open, but she didn't flinch. She couldn't. Not here, not with the whole world watching.
By the time their capsule touched the ground, Sasha's smile was flawless again.
But inside, the script was unraveling.