“It wasn’t the miles that broke him.”

But she stayed with him step for step, laughing, encouraging, carrying him forward, refusing to leave him behind. Her hand brushing his arm when he faltered, the press of her shoulder against his, the heat of her body carrying him forward. Every touch laced with unspoken thrill. With Kai, it was never about winning—it was about doing, about suffering, about enduring life’s fire together. And still, at the end the real pain struck—not in his legs, not in his lungs, but in his revelation. It wasn’t the miles that broke him.