LOGINMeghan:I focused on the plates, one after the other.Making sure to set them down, align them and move on.Anything to keep my hands busy, anything to stop my mind from drifting back to him.“Careful, you’re lining them up like we’re hosting royalty,” Mia teased lightly from across the table. “Just let me know if mom decided to tell you that we are. You know, she might end up informing you while ignoring my presence completely.”“Be nice, Mia.” Her mom teased, and I let out a weak breath.“Maybe we are.” I muttered, and she snorted.“Yeah, sure. Queen of emotional breakdowns.” She teased, nudging me.“Rude.” I said, playfully rolling my eyes at her.“Accurate.” She teased, and I shook my head. It almost made me smile… the normality that I felt despite all the pain that was crumbling in my chest.Well, until the doorbell rang breaking the moment. Mia and I both paused and I found myself looking down at my sweatpants and shirt. I was a complete mess and if they were having guests over,
Alex:The house felt wrong without her. It wasn’t quiet, no… it was wrong.There was a difference.Quiet was something I had chosen once, something I built my life around. This felt like something had been taken.I stood in the hallway longer than necessary, listening for something that wasn’t there. Her footsteps. Her voice. Anything.But nothing came no matter how hard I tried to convince myself it would.“She hasn’t returned yet, sir.” Thomas didn’t need to be asked to know that I was listening for her. And as much as I wanted to deny it, I knew that I needed her… the whole staff saw that I did.“I know.” I said calmly. My jaw tightened slightly as I adjusted my cuff, forcing myself to move.I needed to get back to my routine…That’s what this was supposed to be. Work. Structure. Control. Everything I had built before she walked into it. I should just go back to it and forget that anything that happened between us ever did. I needed to remind myself of what felt right.And yet, not
Meghan:Waking up hurt, not physically, not the kind of pain you could stretch out or sleep off.This was deeper… Heavier. It was the kind that sat in your chest the second your eyes opened, like your body remembered everything before your mind even had the chance to catch up. And right now, with each breath that I took, I felt like I was suffocating.I stayed still under the blanket, staring at nothing.For a second, just a second… I pretended that I forgot.Then it came back, everything. All his words, his voice, the harshness in his tone…We need to end this.My chest tightened instantly, and I found myself wanting to hide under the blanket.“Why?” I whispered before turning to my side, squeezing my eyes shut. A quiet breath left me, shaky and uneven as I pulled the blanket a little closer around myself, like it could shield me from it.It didn’t, nothing did. Because nothing prepared me for the pain that came when he chose to let go. The two of us didn’t even have a problem, there
Alex:The car ride back was quiet, even Dennis didn’t try to fill it this time. That alone told me enough about how I must have looked.“Careful,” he muttered as I stepped out, my balance not as steady as usual. “You already walk around with a cane, which you seem to have lost, you don’t want to trip, being drunk, and without your cane.”“I’m fine.” I muttered angrily.“You’re not.” He said, clearly shaking his head at me.“I said I’m fine.” I snapped despite myself. He didn’t argue, but he stayed close enough to make sure I didn’t miss a step as we walked inside.The house felt colder than usual, or maybe that was just me.“Thomas,” Dennis called as we stepped into the foyer.“Sir.” Thomas appeared almost instantly, composed as always.But I could hear it, the slight shift in his tone. He noticed how horrible I looked, and I believed that he and the staff might have seen the office after last night.Dennis exhaled quietly.“He’ll be dealing with a hangover today,” he said, half unde
Meghan:I made it to my room before it hit me… and the second the door closed behind me, my legs gave out. I didn’t even make it to the bed. I couldn’t take another step forward before everything in me felt like it was on fire.I slid down against the wall, my hands covering my face as everything I had been holding in crashed all at once. A sob tore through me before I could stop it.“God… my chest hurt… it actually hurt.” I cried out despite knowing that no one could actually hear me. It was like something inside me had been ripped out and left raw.We need to end this.The words replayed over and over again, each time cutting deeper than the last.There is no ‘us’ anymore.“No,” I whispered, shaking my head like I could force it out. “No, you don’t mean that… I can’t accept that you would mean that, Alex. You opened the door, you can’t just slam it in my face like that and expect me to just accept it. You don’t have the right to do so like this. you can’t just think that you can do
Alex:The door closed behind her as she walked into her room, and the silence that followed was unbearable.For a moment, I didn’t move, didn’t breathe, didn’t think… because if I did, if I let myself think about the look on her face, the way her voice broke just enough to hide it… I would go after her, I would take it back, I would undo everything I just said.My hand tightened into a fist.No.This was necessary. She had to be safe of all this. She had to be safe of me.Laura’s voice echoed in my head.I know about you.She needs to be away from you.My jaw clenched, but I knew that it was the right thing to do… because I was going to let her think that, let her believe she had control.But I wasn’t going to drag Meghan into this, I was protecting her. Even if she hated me for it, even if it destroyed me. Because I knew that if Laura easily saw it, then others would have. And I wasn’t going to put her in that danger.I walked to my office, slapping the door shut before dropping my c
Alex:The blaring sound of my alarm echoed through my room the following morning, forcing my eyes open. “Fucking hell.” I groaned and reached out for the alarm and slammed it into silence. I tossed on the bed with my body wrapped around the thick blanket, knowing well that the night was not one th
Alex:Hearing her sharp voice cry after me, I felt a void, and a sense of emptiness consumed me from within. I couldn't stay in the same space with her, so I had to make an escape before I did something I'm going to regret even more. We've already begun on a bad note. It was sweet while it lasted.
Alex:Hearing her muffled sobs almost made me snap. I didn't know how to react to her, and even though I couldn't see her face, I could map out her expression in my head, and it's driving me insane. I remained silent, unable to say a word as I listened, observing every word and taking note of ever
Meghan:My breath grew heavier with his last sentence. It felt as though he was deliberately pushing boundaries and yet telling me not to follow. His eyes were fixed on mine though he couldn’t see me, and I could feel him picturing me, picturing how I looked, imagining what he wanted to do to me.







