The Decision to Leave

  A brief silence hung between them.

  Lena sat still, staring at the town below.

  Neo didn't rush her. He let the moment stretch, waiting to see if she would say something—anything.

  Then, finally, she stood up.

  Her hands lightly dusted off her dress, and she turned away from the town's view.

  "I'm gonna go home now," she said.

  Her voice was quiet but steady.

  Neo blinked, watching her expression.

  There was no anger, no frustration—just the same unreadable stillness she had carried before.

  For a second, he felt the urge to stop her.

  To push just a little more.

  To say, "Wait. What are you thinking? What's your answer?"

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  But instead, he let her go.

  He leaned back against the tree, arms behind his head.

  "Looks like she needs time for herself," he murmured under his breath as she walked away.

  His gaze followed her disappearing figure down the hill.

  Then, a quiet thought crept into his mind—

  "I just hope it's not long enough for a reset."

  The Uncertainty of Change

  Neo let out a loud sigh, rubbing his face with one hand.

  He could feel the tension in his shoulders, the weight of uncertainty pressing against him.

  Had he pushed her too hard?

  Had he not pushed enough?

  "Did I mess up?"

  His eyes drifted toward the sky, watching the slow movement of the clouds above.

  He let the silence settle around him, grounding himself in the stillness of the moment.

  Then, he exhaled slowly.

  "I did what I could," he muttered to himself. "Now, only she can change herself."

  For a moment, that thought felt solid.

  Like he had come to terms with it.

  Like he had accepted that the next step wasn't his to take.

  But then—

  A sudden realization jolted through him like a spark.

  "Wait."

  His eyes widened slightly.

  "What if she doesn't... and it resets again?!"

  The Ironic Realization

  Neo sat up straight, his heart picking up pace.

  His mind raced, piecing together the worst-case scenario.

  "If the loop resets, then she never moved forward."

  "If she never moved forward, then she never took a step past her own belief."

  "If she never took that step, then this whole conversation disappears."

  That meant—

  "I would have to start over."

  He groaned loudly, grabbing his journal from his side.

  "Alright, I need to write this down. Everything. To prevent 'myself' from making the same mistake."

  He flipped open the pages, quickly skimming through his past notes.

  But then, just as he was about to press pen to paper—

  He stopped.

  His fingers hovered over the journal.

  A slow realization sank in.

  "...Oh no."

  His lips twitched slightly.

  "Now I'm the same as her."

  The absurdity of it hit him all at once.

  His goal was to stop her from repeating her actions.

  And now, he was doing the exact same thing.

  He blinked.

  Then—

  A chuckle escaped his lips.

  Then another.

  Until finally, he laughed.

  Loud, amused, genuine.

  The irony was too good.

  "Fascinating" he muttered to himself, shaking his head. "Really, really fascinating"