Chapter 17

Twenty–four hours.

That was all the time I had left.

Last night–After Pax asked me to start over, I didn’t respond.

I simply sat there, letting the weight of his words sink into the candlelit hush between us.

The restaurant, once warm and intimate, suddenly felt distant, the glow of the chandeliers dimmed by something neither of us was willing to name.

A silence stretched between us, thick and unresolved.

Pax’s mother, ever perceptive, didn’t push for an answer.

“These kinds of things should be settled between the two of you,” she murmured, dabbing the corner of her lips with a napkin. “Tve had my fill. I’ll be heading home.”

Before leaving, she handed me a gift.

An emerald jade bracelet–delicate, flawless.

I refused instantly.

It was too much, too significant.

But Pax didn’t hesitate. He took it for me, slipping it into his pocket with the ease of someone who had already

decided for me.

“Then I’ll hold onto it for now.”

And then, as if sensing that wasn’t enough, he insisted on picking out another gift.

“Something from me.”

1 didn’t argue.

simply followed him through the high–end shopping mall,

life play out from

then we ran

Nina.

dressed in white. Her makeup was soft, natural–deliberately

23:08

Years of Love, Seven

51.8%

Chapter 17

picture of restraint.

she saw Pax, something in

welled up immediately, slipping down her cheeks in silent, measured streams. Her shoulders trembled as if she were standing in the eye

should really consider

level of control, she could land a starring role without an

emotion. “He said you were

the fabric of her dress, wringing it as if trying to steady

him. I thought”

exhaling in

it’s true,

world around us didn’t stop.

conversations still buzzed in the air.

Yet somehow-

us blurred.

scene suspended in time.

three

to

reflexive–like he needed to read my expression before he could decide how

I smiled.

curve of my lips.

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