Violet didn't get her brace off until the end of January. By then, her only commitment was physical therapy, so she spent most of her free time at Noah's dojo, helping with administrative tasks.

Spring training didn't begin until the end of February, but Kaleb, having finally found a backpacking group (after cancelling his trip following a breakup), was in Europe. Being home alone drove Violet crazy, so she begged Noah for something to do.

He spoke to the dojo owner, explaining her situation. The owner, who had known Violet since Noah was in high school and knew her efficiency, readily agreed to let her help with Noah's paperwork.

Noah's students loved having her around. Some older students asked why she was there so often. She replied, "Because I'm their sensei's girlfriend now."

Joey, a boy Noah claimed had a crush on her, looked confused. "I thought you were already Sensei's girlfriend," he said.

That was difficult to explain. Fortunately, Noah called Joey over to help set up practice dummies, rescuing Violet from answering.

She felt like an idiot. Everyone else had seen it—except her!

However, there was no use dwelling on it. She was with Noah, and their awkwardness, especially regarding kissing, was improving. She was confident that once they overcame this hurdle, she'd be completely in love with her best friend.

After the last class, Noah still had paperwork Violet hadn't finished. She wandered around his office, admiring karate trophies and plaques from competitions dating back to the dojo's founding in the late 1980s.

She paused, noticing something new on his desk: a three-slot folding picture frame.

The first slot held a photo of them at ages four and two; Noah's arms were around Violet, his eyes closed in a cheesy grin, as she beamed at the camera. The second showed them at thirteen and twelve, shrieking with laughter as the Singletons' dog had soaked them with soapy bathwater during a bath-time mishap.

Violet remembered that day. Jennica had asked Noah to bathe the dog while she took Logan to get school supplies. It hadn't gone well, and Jennica had walked in on the chaos thirty minutes later, snapping the photo.

The last photo was from closing night of Violet's first New York City Ballet show. She and Noah had their arms around each other; she clutched the white-and-pink roses he'd brought.

That show wasn't particularly memorable. It was Romeo and Juliet, and Violet played Juliet's nurse, a small role. At the time, she was too excited to be in a real ballet company to care about her minimal stage time.

Almost everyone she knew had attended opening night, but attendance dwindled until no one came to the final few performances. Then, on closing night, Noah surprised her by attending—a second time. His seat wasn't good, so she hadn't seen him, and was completely surprised when he appeared at the cast party with roses.

That started his tradition of attending both opening and closing nights. He even bought VIP box seats for her next show. Violet smiled fondly at the memory.

"When did you get this?" she asked, gesturing to the frame.

Noah looked up. "Oh, this? I've had it since I moved into this office; I wanted something to decorate my desk." He smiled sheepishly. "I hid it whenever you came over, not wanting to weird you out. No point in that now."

That was straight out of a romance novel. He could be surprisingly sentimental.

Violet kissed his cheek and massaged his shoulders as he finished his paperwork.

"You're sweet," she said.

"Glad you think so."

As she massaged his shoulders, her mind returned to the picture frame. Noah said he'd had it since moving into the office… over two years ago!

All that time…he'd loved her, and she'd noticed nothing. Regret filled her heart. How different would things have been if she'd known sooner? Would they have started dating earlier? Or would she have been too young and foolish to appreciate his feelings?

Things probably worked out as they should have. Her mother always said everything happens for a reason. In this case, she might be right.

After Noah finished his paperwork, they went to a sushi restaurant. While she missed dancing, she enjoyed being able to eat whatever she wanted (within reason). She looked forward to that aspect of being a dance teacher someday.

As they sat down, Violet thought she recognized someone, but couldn't see anyone she knew when she looked again. She must have been mistaken.

(The final paragraph about stolen content has been removed as it is not part of the text needing grammatical correction.)