Liam was supposed to be invincible. Popular, brilliant, destined for greatness. The golden boy who was going to escape our rough neighborhood and conquer the world. I was just the loyal sidekick, happy to bask in his light.

Then one stormy night shattered everything. A fatal crash. A girl's life lost. My best friend behind bars.

For five years, he refused every letter, every visit.

For five years, I built myself into someone worthy of his return. Someone powerful enough to protect him, successful enough to give him anything he needed.

The day he walks out of those prison gates, I'm waiting.

But the broken boy who emerges isn't the king I remember. He is too thin. His hair is too long. He can’t look anyone in the eye. He talks in the faintest of whispers and jumps at his own shadow.

And at night he clings to me because I smell of safety and home.

It doesn't matter. He's still mine to protect. Still the other half of my soul.

Some people think love is about the fall. But real love? Real love is about holding on when everything else lets go. It's about building a home in each other's hearts and refusing to leave, no matter how long the winter lasts.

Underneath all that trauma, he's still my Liam. Still the person I'd move heaven and earth for.

Now we have to learn how to be us again. How to heal together. How to build something beautiful from the wreckage of what we lost.

Some love stories are about falling. Ours is about never letting go.

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