Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 221

Domestic Chaos

1 Week Later

The therapist's office smells like cinnamon. It kind of tickles my nose, reminding me of Christmas and Thanksgiving.

I sit, tucked into a large, pale pink armchair that squeaks every time I move, with my legs crisscrossed and my arms tight across my chest.

Her name is Cami, and she's young. Maybe like in her late twenties. Her hair is dyed a soft cotton candy pink, the ends curled slightly. She's wearing a chunky yellow cardigan that I

kind of want for myself and I almost feel like I'm talking to a friend.

I tell her about the accident, about my relationship with my brother.

Her neon green nails click gently against the arm of her chair as she waves and gestures,

which she does often.

“That's a lot,” she says in an empathetic whisper.

I blink at her. That's an understatement. I manage a small smile. "Yeah. That's one way to

put it.".

She laughs easily, not in a fake way, but the kind that sounds like warmth. Like sunshine.

I'm not sure if I like her yet.

But I don't dislike her either.

She doesn't push. Just lets the silence linger. I'm kind of thankful for that because I'm not

sure I can get into anything having to do with Zaid, Jake or Aiden.

"Do you still talk to your mother?"

I shake my head. "A lot more has happened since the accident. She's in Arizona. I'm here,

I don't-"

I swallow, tightening my arms around myself.

dive into everything

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Domestic Chaos

unload about my mother mostly, about her neglect and

at the corners, and I can tell she's feeling it. Not just nodding through it like it's

the end of the session, my eyes are puffy, my throat sore. I'm wrung out like a rag. And even though I only gave her pieces of the full story, it feels

my mother while she stands right in front of me is a terrible thing to go through. Watching her lose herself in grief while being forced to grow up far

Cami validated it all.

think I do

cry all the way home, wanting to get it out so that Zaid

like

this.

cardboard.

sticky notes in Zaid's neat

shred of domestic

kitchen, pour myself a glass of

still shaking from earlier.

me that wants to sink into Zaid's arms, to bury

happened. I remember how good it used

he rolled

way he kissed me and told me

crave it so much right

promised myself I'd

slowly. Let the coolness settle

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Domestic Chaos

of paper. The beginnings of a hunt for a family I've never met. A name

the mattress and let my head fall

a knock on my door. My heart does this stupid skip thing because

softer

shirt slightly wrinkled. He looks tired, in the same way I feel. But he smiles at

"How was it?"

only nod over the lump in my

sits beside me on the mattress. "Are you going

back?"

go as often as I