-Julien Grayson:
Three years later, and everything felt… settled.
Not in a boring way. Not in a dull, predictable kind of life where nothing ever changed. No—things still shifted, still moved, still surprised me sometimes.
But it was stable.
Safe.
Happy.
I had graduated from university. That alone still didn't feel real sometimes. There were moments where I'd just sit there, staring at my diploma like… that's it? After everything, after all the chaos and the running and the fighting and the confusion… I had actually done it.
And through all of it—every late night, every stressful exam, every breakdown where I swore I was going to fail—
He had been there.
Ezra.
Always there.
He was twenty-eight now. Older, calmer… more grounded in a way that made him feel even more solid than before. And somehow, over the years, he had softened too. Not in a weak way—never that—but in a way that made him easier to read, easier to reach.
He talked more now.
