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What We Dont Say
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2025-12-06 06:57:33The next week crawled by with the slow, uneasy anticipation of a storm that refused to break. Lola went about her days pretending everything inside her wasn’t shifting in dangerous ways. The Walkers were scheduled for Tuesday, and though she didn’t want to admit it, she counted down to the moment she would see them again.
But she didn’t expect Melvin to arrive alone.
The doors slid open at 9:31 a.m., the morning light spilling around him. No wheelchair. No Emily. Just Melvin, carrying a worn messenger bag and a heaviness that nearly staggered him.
Lola stood immediately. “Melvin? Are you....... where’s Emily?”
He approached the counter slowly, as if each step cost him something. “She’s home today,” he said quietly. “Too weak to come.”
Concern washed through Lola. “I’m sorry.”
His jaw tightened. “She told me to go without her. Said I looked like I needed fresh air.” His laugh was rough and humorless. “Not exactly fresh air here, but… I didn’t argue.”
He looked up at Lola then, really looked at her, and the exhaustion in his eyes hit her like a physical blow.
“Are you okay?” she asked before she could stop herself.
He shook his head. “Not really.”
She swallowed. “Do you want to sit? You don’t have to go back immediately.”
He hesitated, torn between propriety and desperation. But then he nodded.
Lola stepped out from behind the desk and guided him to the quieter corner seating area. He sank into the chair like a man collapsing inward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped tightly.
For a minute, neither spoke.
Lola sat beside him, hands folded in her lap. “You don’t have to talk,” she said softly. “You can just… be here.”
He exhaled shakily.
“I feel like I’m drowning,” he whispered. “Like every day I wake up to a little less of her.”
Lola’s eyes burned. “I’m so sorry.”
He rubbed his eyes, catching a tear with the back of his hand. “She was always the strong one,” he said. “Always. And now… now I’m just waiting. Watching her fade.” His voice cracked. “I hate that she’s in pain. I hate that I can’t fix anything.”
Lola reached out before thinking, placing a hand gently over his. “You’re doing everything you can.”
He didn’t pull away.
Instead, his hand turned slowly until their fingers intertwined. A soft, forbidden warmth bloomed between them.
“We shouldn’t…” he murmured, not finishing the sentence.
“I know,” she whispered. “We won’t. I mean, this doesn’t have to be anything.”
His eyes lifted, meeting hers with a vulnerability that stole her breath.
“Lola,” he said, her name sounding like a confession.
She didn’t move her hand.
For one suspended moment, they just breathed, fingers laced, hearts stumbling.
When he finally let go, the absence of his touch felt like an ache.
Melvin stood, clearing his throat. “I should go.”
Lola nodded, though her chest tightened. “Please take care of yourself.”
He offered her a small, broken smile. “I’ll try.”
And as he walked away, Lola felt something unravel inside her, something she wasn’t sure she wanted to stop.
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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