It had been several years since Stephen had lost his fight against Ruba, yet the weight of that night had never truly left him. Time had passed, seasons had changed, and countless fights had come and gone, but the scar left behind by that loss still lingered quietly in the background of his life.
During all those years, the relationship between Stephen and Chris had never fully healed.
They still saw each other almost every day. They still worked in the same gym. They still exchanged words when they had to. But the warmth that once existed between them, the trust, the belief, the shared dream, was gone. What remained was something colder, something hollow, like two men bound together only by routine and regret.
