Heartbreaking Reunion Between Former Best Friends

The chipped mug felt cool against Lena's fingers, a familiar comfort in the quiet hum of her kitchen. Steam curled lazily from the black coffee, promising a jolt that her sluggish morning brain desperately needed. Ten years. Ten years to the day, in fact. Not that she was counting, not really. It was just… one of those dates that had carved itself into the calendar of her mind, a jagged scar tissue that pulsed with an invisible ache every time it rolled around. A phantom limb, that's what it was. An arm, a leg, a whole vital organ she'd lost, but still felt the twitch and throb of, as if it were still there, just out of sight.She sighed, pushing away from the counter and walking to the window. The world outside was painted in the soft, muted tones of early spring – pale green shoots reaching for the sky, a hint of blush on the maple buds, a sky that couldn't quite decide between steely grey and hopeful blue. It was pretty, in a fragile, tentative way. A lot like her life, she sometimes thought. Carefully constructed, quiet, peaceful even, but always with the underlying sense that it could all shatter with one wrong move.