I turned to leave.
“Clara…” he called out one last time.
I stopped—but didn’t look back.
“There was a time,” he said, “when you would have stayed.”
I closed my eyes for a brief second.
Then opened them again.
“Yes,” I said.
A beat of silence.
“But that woman doesn’t exist anymore.”
And with that—
I walked away.
Outside, the city moved like it always did.
Unbothered.
Unchanged.
But I wasn’t the same.
Not the woman who endured.
Not the one who explained away disrespect.
Not the one who waited to be chosen.
This time—
I chose myself.
And that?
That was the kind of power no title could ever give—
and no man could ever take away.
