Chapter 15

The hallway was dim, narrow, and heavy with the scent of rain. Faint droplets tapped against the windows, the muffled hum of water slipping through cracks in the pavement outside filling the silence between us.

1 froze.

For a brief, breathless moment, I thought this was it.

The moment the truth would slip out.

That Pax would finally piece everything together.

That my plans to leave would be dragged into the open, no longer something I could quietly pack away with the rest of my belongings.

But instead-

He smiled.

“Of course we are.”

His certainty was effortless, unwavering.

He thought she was talking about Norway.

Relief flooded through me, but it came tangled with something heavier–something I didn’t want to name.

The girl parted her lips, as if she wanted to say more, but her boyfriend–quicker, sharper–seemed to sense the sudden shift in the air.

He grabbed her hand lightly, pulling her back, offering a quick, polite farewell before leading her away.

that,

stretched again, this time thinner, more

to move into his place

was

Norway,” I said, my voice careful, steady.

hesitated, lingering at my doorstep as if searching for a reason to stay.

an unseen compromise, he tried again.

have dinner

Chapter 15

to refuse, but he cut me off before I

if you’re still angry, hit me, yell at me, do whatever you

now, rough at the edges, like he wasn’t used to speaking this way–like

“Just

Don’t be so

him then,

his normally

kind

as if carrying something heavier than

clenched my fingers tighter, nails digging into my

Pain.

ache lodged deep beneath

Two years.

of real, honest

-Thad loved him.

in some small, quiet way, I

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