Tempted Trapped and Too Late to Run

She stood frozen at the edge of the kitchen, staring through the sliding glass door, thinking it over for several minutes. There was really no point in making herself suffer more than she already was.

Seriously, what was the use in pushing through the pain? Her stomach was cramping so badly she could barely breathe, sweat beading on her forehead.

Eventually, she shuffled over to the coffee table and dropped into the armchair, reaching for a warm piece of bread. She started nibbling, slow and mechanical.

She'd only managed a couple of bites before she spotted her household registration booklet sitting in the corner of the table. Her hand paused, midair. She glanced at Dylan.

He didn't look up, just said, “Finish eating. Then we'll go to the registry office." Clara's grip tightened so hard on the bread, it squished out of shape.

The moment she'd walked in and seen Dylan, she almost convinced herself that everything wild from the night before had just been a dream. But now-hearing that she knew it wasn't.

This was reality.

Did Dylan actually care about her?

She took a few more tiny bites, waiting for the pain in her stomach to fade before finally asking, "Do you like me, Mr. Dylan?"

Dylan turned a page in his book, his tone flat. "What do you think?"

"No." She answered fast, maybe too fast. "If you liked me, you wouldn't act like this."

She knew she'd loved Z- but their love had always been a little

like you." He said it without looking away from the page, fingers still resting lightly on the paper, as if nothing she

through her mind- hadn't he

face, because it

"Am I just a stand-in for

fluttered. He set the book aside and stood

she was, then it was time to go

flickering across her face. Was Dylan actually serious about

really going

hold, as if she'd picked up a burning coal. She ducked her head, Pring to keep eating,

herself time.

spun. She couldn't marry

would that make her when it came to Z? A woman who just walked

at the thought of Z. She'd

imagining it would

easy to hurt. If he ever found out, she couldn't even

time she tried to break up with him-he'd even stood

quietly, her heart hadn't felt

the bread down. She

looked lost and