"You didn't go to Selene because you loved her either," she said. "You went to her because you were terrified June would see you as a failure. That's the danger of nostalgia," she added, folding her hands. "It doesn't reflect truth—it reflects comfort. Because an old story feels safer than writing a new, vulnerable one."
"All of this..." she began slowly, her voice calm but unflinching, "the regression, the pull of nostalgia, the safety you found in the past—it makes sense, psychologically speaking. It tracks. But it doesn't excuse it."
I swallowed hard. My throat felt dry, like every word I hadn't said to June had collected there, blocking the truth from coming out cleanly.
"You cheated," she said.
The words hit like stones—not loud, not shouted. Justfinal.
"No," I whispered. "No. I never slept with her."
I looked at my hands, still unsure what I expected to find in them—proof of innocence? Evidence of restraint? Or just the weight of what I'd done?
"I never crossed that line. Not physically. I was tempted. I'd be lying if I said otherwise. There were moments I looked at Selene and... I just wanted to escape. To not feel the pressure of being someone's 'forever.' I hate that. I hatemefor that. But I didn't do it. Final line. I didn't cross it."
Dr. Elara nodded, but it wasn't relief in her expression. It was reality.
"Maybe that's good," she said. "Maybe, in a strictly physical sense, that matters. But Aaron... maybe it won't be enough."
Her voice softened—not in tone, but in weight. Like she was about to hand me something delicate and sharp at the same time.
"You're looking at this like a binary: either you cheated or you didn't. But betrayal isn't a single act. It's an accumulation. It's where you let your mind wander when you were supposed to bepresent.It's every laugh you gave to someone else instead of the woman who would've cried for you."
She leaned forward.
"You gave Selene your longing. You gave her your attention. Your stories. Your late-night honesty. Maybe you didn't give her your body—but you let her exist in the spaces June once filled."
I looked away. The walls blurred. My reflection in the window looked smaller than I remembered.
"I wasn’t trying to hurt June," I said, hollow. "But I did."
Dr. Elara leaned forward slightly, her tone calm, measured. "Let’s stay with that thought for a moment. You say you hurt her. How?"
I shifted in the chair, my hands tightening. "I… I didn’t cheat. Not in the way people think. But I… gave Selene pieces of me. Things I should have given June."
Her gaze stayed steady, but her voice softened. "When you say ‘pieces,’ what do you mean?"
I swallowed hard. "My fears. My exhaustion. My… secrets. The things I couldn’t tell June."
"And what did it mean for June when you chose not to give those things to her?" she asked, letting the silence do its work.
The air pressed heavy against my chest. "It meant… she was left in the dark. Wondering. Hurting. While I… while I found comfort somewhere else."
Dr. Elara gave the smallest nod. "So even without a hotel room or an affair, you were stepping out of the relationship in other ways?"
The words landed sharper because I had spoken them first. My throat closed around them. "Yes."
She paused, letting me sit with it before continuing. "Aaron, what do you think June needed most from you during that time?"
I shut my eyes. The answer was so simple it made me ache. "The truth. To be trusted with the real me, even if it was ugly. Not… silence."
Her voice stayed even, but there was weight in it. "Sometimes people believe love means shielding their partner from pain. But when we do that, we cut them off from connection. Trust isn’t built in protection—it’s built in honesty. And when honesty is missing, even small omissions begin to feel like abandonment."
I nodded slowly, because it was true, because it was unbearable. "I thought I was keeping her safe from my mess. But I was just… leaving her alone in it."
Dr. Elara’s expression didn’t shift into pity, only a quiet professionalism that made me feel both exposed and held. "So tell me, Aaron—when you think of June now, what do you believe she sees? Silence… or trust?"
I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood. My voice cracked. "She thinks I’m still with Selene."
