Maybe strength wasn’t what they’d drilled into me at all. Maybe it was in the questions, the uncertainty, the courage to want more than what was prescribed.

I took one last look in the mirror, seeing past the professional veneer to the woman beneath - complicated, conflicted, but finally beginning to understand that maybe, just maybe, that was exactly who I needed to be.

The city stretched out before me, a testament to ambition and possibility. Somewhere out there, Daniel was starting his day too, probably unaware of how he’d upended mine. But for now, I had briefs to file and arguments to make. The personal would have to wait.

I stepped into my heels, each click against the floor a reminder of how far I’d come.