Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 155

Intense-1

The next day, I'm tidying up my room after a shower and before dinner. I grab a sweater I have on my bedside table and in the process, my phone falls on the floor.

It flashes on and the numbers from the corner of the screen stare back at me.

My heart goes into overdrive.

They're small, unassuming, but they define my entire life at this point.

February 14th.

I've been avoiding my phone all day for this exact reason. I didn't want to be reminded. And now I'm here, in the suffocating quiet, trying not to drown in it.

Burning rubber and gasoline.

The crunch of metal folding in on itself.

Flashing lights. Red, white, blue, like a strobe in the middle of the nightmare.

The images and memories bombard me, and I struggle to breathe.

I wrap myself tighter in the blanket I stole off the bed, dragging it with me like a shield as

I step onto the balcony of my room. The cold air bites at my face, but I welcome it.

It's sharp, cold... completely opposite to that day as I watched the first responders check my family for signs of life.

that day,

was

on the chair, knees pulled up to my chest, staring out into nothing. It's so dark and without lights coming from a large city, I can see

beautiful.

it's the guilt that gets me. The tight, gnawing weight in my chest

1/3

intense 1

face into the blanket, trying to silence the sound that escapes me.

I'm pathetic.

open at first. It's the soft creak of the floorboards that makes me lift my head, wiping at my face quickly,

Zaid's voice is

as soon as I see him. My body exhales without permission. Anyone else I might have faked a smile for. Lied. But Zaid? I don't

think I don't need

he steps out onto the balcony,

feels like he always knows what I'm feeling just

say anything; I

down and scoops me up, blanket and all. He settles into

his arms solid

in his chest, letting myself melt into him, breathing

of

It smells like something

a

shake my head. He nods and just

for an hour and then I hear him breathe, as if wanting to say something. I feel his body tense under me. Not in a way that makes me pull away, but enough that I notice.

wrong?" I ask, wiping at my