Chapter 71 - 15 Laps
It was well into midnight by the time Alex and Isabella left the pool. The once-buzzing hotel had settled into a hush, with only the occasional echo of footsteps or distant door clicks to remind them that the world still moved.
They didn’t say much as they stood outside the elevator, and they didn’t need to. A shared look, a smile full of exhaustion and something gentler, something warmer, passed between them like a silent pact.
"Guess I’ll see you tomorrow," Isabella murmured, her voice quieter than before.
"You will," Alex replied.
She gave him a quick hug. Not the kind that meant nothing, but not the kind that demanded anything either. Just enough. Warm, grounding, honest.
And then she was gone, disappearing down the hallway, her footsteps light.
Alex turned in the opposite direction, walking slowly, as if stretching the last moments of the night. His footsteps padded softly on the carpeted floor, his shoes in one hand, the other combing absentmindedly through his hair.
By the time he reached his room, the high from the game had faded, but the emptiness he usually felt in these moments had not returned. No gnawing doubt, no loneliness biting at the edges. Tonight, that space inside him, normally quiet and cold after the lights dimmed and the crowd vanished, was filled with something else.
Relief. Joy. A little pride.
And something more subtle. Something tender. A warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time.
He stepped inside, dropped his shoes by the door, and sat on the edge of the bed. The sheets were untouched, crisp. The room had been cleaned while he was gone, but he hardly noticed. His thoughts weren’t in the room.