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."

didn't even know what real love should look like. She knew she'd loved Z- but their love had always been a little twisted, the kind of thing most people

said it without looking away from the page, fingers still resting lightly on the

through her mind- hadn't he told her

just liked her face, because it reminded him of someone else.

looked over, her stomach turning. "Am I just a stand-in for someone, Mr.

He set the book aside

was time to go register the

disbelief flickering across her face. Was Dylan actually serious

really going to

her hand suddenly felt too hot to hold, as if she'd picked up a burning coal. She ducked her head,

herself time.

She couldn't marry Dylan. That would mess

did, what would that make her when it came to Z? A woman who just

thought of Z. She'd given him a bracelet, a

words-never imagining it would end like

to hurt. If he ever found out, she

devastated he'd been every time she tried to break up with him-he'd even stood at the edge

up her mind to leave quietly, her heart hadn't felt this heavy. But right now, it

down. She couldn't take

of view, she probably looked lost