Nina had rules, though she never said them out loud. Keep conversations light. If someone starts getting too close, find a reason to step back. She had been doing it for so long that it felt like personality. But it was a strategy — one she had built after being hurt so badly that closeness itself had started to feel dangerous. She shut down before anyone could reach the part of her that still ached.

The person who changed things was not who Nina expected — a colleague, steady and unhurried, who never pushed. They worked together for months before anything personal was said. Then, slowly, Nina started talking. About small things first. Then larger ones. One evening she told him something she had never told anyone. He listened without making it about himself. That night, for the first time in years, Nina let someone in — and the world did not end. It got, if anything, a little larger.