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1992
Valerie sat at the small window of her Parisian apartment, the soft glow of the morning sun casting a warm light over the streets below. It had been several months since she had made the decision to leave Los Angeles. The decision had been difficult, but necessary. She had spent years focused on the pressures of her career, her relationship, and the expectations of everyone around her, but she had come to realize that she needed to focus on herself, on healing.
After the nightmare of the stalker—the fear, the paranoia, the sleepless nights—David had insisted on taking her away. The two of them, along with their daughter Vivienne, had moved to France, where Valerie was to begin therapy for anxiety and trauma. David, ever the devoted partner, had placed their well-being above all else. His music, his projects, even his own emotional burdens—none of it mattered as much as ensuring Valerie felt safe again.
But despite the new beginning, shadows lingered.
Valerie often found herself staring out at the city, her fingers absentmindedly running over the wrought-iron railing of the balcony. There were days when she felt lighter, when the sessions helped, when David’s presence and Vivienne’s laughter grounded her. But there were also days when the weight of her past pressed down too heavily, when she could still feel the phantom presence of being watched.
David saw it all. He understood it in a way few others could. And as much as he tried to be her anchor, his own internal struggles gnawed at him. The melancholy that had always existed within him seemed to deepen in the quiet of their Parisian life. He never spoke of it, but Valerie could sense it—the way he sometimes sat by the piano in silence, staring at the keys without playing a single note.
It wasn’t until much later that she realized he had been preparing for the inevitable.
It was a quiet morning in the city, with the gentle sounds of the street filtering through the window. Valerie had taken the first steps towards her recovery, setting up appointments with specialists and finding a therapist who could help her work through the panic attacks and the depression that had been a constant companion in recent years. The transition had been challenging, but she had taken solace in the idea that things were moving in the right direction.
