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A Room Full of Quiet
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2025-12-06 07:04:55The kiss lingered in Lola’s mind for days, haunting her in quiet moments. She replayed it when brushing her teeth, when folding laundry, when lying awake at night staring at the ceiling. It had been soft, tender, full of unspoken grief, but it was enough to shift everything.
She dreaded seeing him again.
She needed to see him again.
On Thursday, life made the choice for her.
Emily was scheduled for a longer appointment. When Melvin came in, pushing his wife’s wheelchair, the tension between him and Lola was palpable, an electric quiet that neither acknowledged.
“Morning,” Lola said softly.
“Morning,” Melvin replied, his voice rough like he’d been rehearsing what not to say.
Emily raised a brow at both of them. “Why do you two look like you robbed a bank together?”
Lola nearly dropped the clipboard. “What? No..... I......”
Melvin coughed loudly. “Ignore her. She’s in one of her moods.”
Emily smirked. “One of my moods is better than none.”
After they were checked in, Maria took Emily to the back. Melvin lingered in the lobby, pacing lightly before sinking onto a chair.
Lola hesitated before approaching.
“Do you want some water?” she asked gently.
He shook his head. “I want… I don’t know what I want.”
Lola sat beside him, keeping her hands firmly in her lap. “We shouldn’t talk about the other night.”
“I know,” he said, staring at the floor. “But it’s all I’ve thought about.”
A flutter of emotion moved through her chest. “Melvin…”
He lifted his head, eyes red and weary. “I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have put you in that position.”
“You didn’t put me anywhere. I’m responsible too.”
He laughed softly, bitterly. “You deserve better than someone half-broken.”
“I don’t want better,” Lola whispered before she could stop herself. “I just want honesty.”
He looked at her sharply, breath catching. “Lola…”
She stayed still. “What are you feeling? Really?”
His voice cracked. “Lost. Guilty. Terrified. And… drawn to you in a way I can’t make sense of.”
Her heart twisted painfully.
“You’re grieving,” she said softly. “You’re not thinking clearly.”
He shook his head. “I’m thinking clearer than I have in months. And that scares me.”
Silence expanded between them, thick and charged.
Then his voice dropped. “When Emily’s gone… I don’t know who I’ll be.”
Lola’s chest tightened. “You don’t have to figure that out today.”
“But I can’t pretend nothing’s happening,” he said bluntly. “Not with you.”
Her pulse raced. “So what now?”
He hesitated, then reached for her hand.
She let him take it.
Their fingers intertwined slowly, deliberately this time.
“We don’t do anything we’ll regret,” he said. “We don’t rush. We don’t hide. We just… breathe. Together.”
Lola exhaled shakily. “Okay.”
For the next hour, they sat in quiet companionship, sharing a space that wasn’t romantic or inappropriate—but painfully intimate.
When Emily returned, pale and sweating, Melvin sprang up immediately. Lola helped gather her things, careful not to meet Melvin’s gaze too directly.
Emily looked between them again, but she only smiled a small, sad smile, as if she understood everything and resented nothing.
As the Walkers left, Melvin looked back once more.
Not for permission.
For comfort.
And Lola realized, with a mix of dread and longing, that she was already in too deep.
Latest chapter
Among the Quiet Ruins chapter 2
Lola pov The call came from Elara’s school on a Tuesday afternoon.It was not an emergency. That much was clear from the calm tone of the receptionist. Still, something in Lola’s chest tightened the moment she heard her name spoken carefully, like a preface to news that needed handling.“There’s nothing wrong,” the woman assured her. “We just thought you might want to come by.”Lola hung up slowly, staring at her phone for a moment longer than necessary.Nothing wrong did not mean nothing important.She arrived twenty minutes later, the familiar smell of disinfectant and crayons grounding her as she walked through the hallway. Elara’s teacher met her near the door, her expression kind but thoughtful.“She’s okay,” the teacher said quickly. “This isn’t about behavior. It’s more about a conversation that came up.”Lola nodded, bracing herself.Children rarely framed their questions carefully. They spoke from instinct, from what they felt rather than what they understood.That was what
Among the Quiet Ruins chapter 1
Lola pov Stability did not feel like certainty.That was the first thing Lola noticed once life slowed enough for her to observe it honestly. There were no guarantees stitched into the days, no promises hidden beneath routine. Stability, she had learned, was quieter than that. It was made of choices repeated long after the excitement faded.She felt it now as she stood in the kitchen, barefoot on cool tile, watching Elara lean over the dining table with fierce concentration. A puzzle lay scattered between small hands, pieces turned and tested with the seriousness only a child could summon for such a task.The late afternoon sun filtered through the window, catching dust motes in its glow. The house was warm in that particular way that came from being lived in rather than styled. There were fingerprints on the glass. A forgotten sweater on the back of a chair. A half-finished mug of tea cooling near the sink.Lola rested her palms on the counter and breathed.This was the life she had
Among the Quiet Ruins Epilogue: Where Love Begin Again
Lola learned, eventually, that stability did not announce itself.It arrived quietly, in moments so ordinary they were almost invisible unless she paused long enough to notice them.Like this one.Lola pov The house was warm in that late afternoon way, sunlight pooling lazily across the hardwood floors. Elara sat at the dining table, tongue peeking out in concentration as she worked on a puzzle that was clearly too old for her patience but too satisfying to abandon.Lola watched from the kitchen, a mug of tea resting between her hands.She felt… steady.Not untouched by doubt. Not immune to fear.Just steady.It had taken time to get here. More time than she would have liked, and more courage than she had known she possessed. There had been difficult conversations. Firm boundaries drawn and defended. Moments when it would have been easier to step back instead of forward.But she had stayed.Not because she was afraid to leave.Because she wanted this life.Melvin’s voice drifted in f
Among the Quiet Ruins The Life They Choose
Lola pov The morning light spilled softly across the living room, catching on the edges of Elara’s toys and the stack of books Lola kept meaning to finish. It felt ordinary in the best way.She stood at the window, coffee warming her hands, watching Melvin kneel on the floor as Elara explained something with great seriousness. He listened like it mattered. Like she mattered.That was when Lola knew.Not in a sudden rush.But in the quiet certainty of witnessing consistency.Love, real love, did not arrive with fireworks. It arrived with presence.She had once believed happiness meant certainty without risk. Now she understood that happiness meant choosing something meaningful even when risk remained.Melvin looked up and caught her watching.He smiled.That smile still startled her sometimes.Melvin pov Melvin felt settled in a way that surprised him.Not because life had become simple. But because it finally felt honest.Elara tugged on his sleeve.“Lola’s staring,” she whispered c
Among the Quiet Ruins When Old Wounds Speak
Lola pov The call came late.Not emergency late. Not panic late. Just late enough to disrupt the quiet rhythm Lola had grown accustomed to.She stared at her phone for a moment before answering.“Hello?”Melvin’s voice was steady, but there was something beneath it she recognized immediately.Tension.“My wife’s sister reached out,” he said. “She wants to meet.”Lola’s chest tightened.Not from jealousy.From awareness.She had known this moment would come. That Melvin’s past would eventually step forward not as memory, but as presence. People who carried shared grief often resurfaced when lives moved forward.“What does she want?” Lola asked.“To talk,” Melvin replied. “About Elara. About us.”Lola closed her eyes briefly.“Okay,” she said. “Tell me how you feel about it.”Melvin pov Melvin leaned back against the kitchen counter in his apartment, phone pressed to his ear.“I feel… cautious,” he admitted. “Not because I’m unsure about us. Because I know this could reopen things tha
Among the Quiet Ruins What They Say Out Loud
Lola pov Lola had always believed that commitment arrived with certainty.A moment when doubt evaporated and everything aligned cleanly into place. She had waited for that feeling for years, assuming that anything less meant hesitation or fear.Now, sitting across from Melvin at the kitchen table late one evening, she understood how wrong she had been.Commitment did not feel like certainty.It felt like courage.Elara was asleep. The apartment was quiet in the way that only came after a full day. Lola wrapped her hands around her mug, the warmth grounding her.“I’ve been thinking,” she said slowly.Melvin looked up, attentive but unguarded.“That usually means something important,” he said gently.She smiled faintly.“It means I don’t want us to keep circling what we already know.”Melvin pov He felt his chest tighten, not with fear but with readiness.“I don’t either,” he said.Lola took a breath.“I don’t want to rush into labels,” she continued. “But I also don’t want to pretend
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