"The brand conflict was real," he said carefully. "I wasn't trying to make things difficult when I signed with Adidas. It just happened that way."
"I know," Sophia replied, and she nodded once. "And I handled it poorly. The agencies were pushing me to distance myself from anyone connected to competing brands, and I let that pressure become more important than what actually mattered. Which was stupid."
"It made sense at the time," Demien offered, though the words felt hollow even as he said them. "Your career, my career. Sometimes timing just doesn't work."
"Maybe," Sophia said, and she looked at him directly. "But I don't think it was just timing. I think we both panicked when things got complicated instead of actually talking about it. And then it became easier to just... drift apart rather than deal with the uncomfortable parts."
