登入Nora's POV For a second I genuinely forgot how to do anything. Not just breathe. Everything. Think, blink, move, exist. All of it just stopped, I couldn't explain how. His tongue traced the seam of my lips, soft but sure, and I opened for him before my brain could even catch up. The kiss got deeper right away—warm and a little messy. A rush of heat flooded my chest and spilled down my spine, making my knees feel weirdly unsteady. I stood there staring at him, and he stood there looking back at me while kissing me. The room was completely silent, and my brain was offering me absolutely nothing useful. Then everything came back at once. My eyes went wide and I pushed against his chest and took two steps back so fast I nearly lost my balance. "What the hell?!" My voice came out louder than I meant it to. Cael didn't flinch, didn't move, didn't even look particularly surprised, which somehow made everything worse. I pointed at him. "You—" Nothing came out. I tried again. "Yo
Nora's POV For a second I genuinely forgot how to do anything. Not just breathe. Everything. Think, blink, move, exist. All of it just stopped, I couldn't explain how. His tongue traced the seam of my lips, soft but sure, and I opened for him before my brain could even catch up. The kiss got deeper right away—warm and a little messy. A rush of heat flooded my chest and spilled down my spine, making my knees feel weirdly unsteady. I stood there staring at him, and he stood there looking back at me while kissing me. The room was completely silent, and my brain was offering me absolutely nothing useful. Then everything came back at once. My eyes went wide and I pushed against his chest and took two steps back so fast I nearly lost my balance. "What the hell?!" My voice came out louder than I meant it to. Cael didn't flinch, didn't move, didn't even look particularly surprised, which somehow made everything worse. I pointed at him. "You—" Nothing came out. I tried again. "Yo
Nora's POVFor a second I genuinely forgot how to do anything.Not just breathe. Everything. Think, blink, move, exist. All of it just stopped, I couldn't explain how.His tongue traced the seam of my lips, soft but sure, and I opened for him before my brain could even catch up. The kiss got deeper right away—warm and a little messy. A rush of heat flooded my chest and spilled down my spine, making my knees feel weirdly unsteady.I stood there staring at him, and he stood there looking back at me while kissing me. The room was completely silent, and my brain was offering me absolutely nothing useful.Then everything came back at once.My eyes went wide and I pushed against his chest and took two steps back so fast I nearly lost my balance."What the hell?!"My voice came out louder than I meant it to. Cael didn't flinch, didn't move, didn't even look particularly surprised, which somehow made everything worse.I pointed at him."You—"Nothing came out.I tried again."You—"Still not
I woke up already annoyed. Not because something was wrong exactly, just because my head was too loud and sleep had felt less like rest and more like drifting in and out of thoughts I hadn't asked for.Leon, the house, the silence. Sixteen-year-old me standing in a hallway holding a watch nobody wanted.I turned on my side and muttered, "Stop it," to absolutely no one. "It was years ago. It's nothing now."I waited for my brain to agree.It didn't.And then, as if one problem wasn't enough, another face slipped in without permission.Cael.I groaned into my pillow."Fantastic," I said out loud. "One man I don't understand and one man I don't want to see again. Great combination, Nora. Very healthy."What was wrong with me??I sat up, rubbed my face, and decided that today was going to be a professional day. Strictly professional. No replaying last night's dinner, no thinking about the way he'd looked at me across that table, and absolutely no thinking about him stepping close outside
I didn't even remember putting the phone down.Mom's voice was still sitting somewhere in my head, soft and hopeful in a way that made everything worse.*Leon is coming back.*The words just stayed there. Didn't move, didn't fade, just settled somewhere behind my eyes like they'd found a place and decided not to leave.I turned onto my side and stared at nothing in particular."Of course," I muttered.My eyes burned a little. Not enough to cry, just enough to be annoying. Maybe it was frustration, maybe it was just too many things happening in one day. I closed my eyes.And then the memories started. Not because I wanted them to.... just because they did.---I was sixteen when my mom brought me into the Vance house for the first time.I still remember holding her hand too tightly at the gate, looking up at the building and feeling something I couldn't name properly. It wasn't fear exactly. More like the feeling you get when you already know something isn't going to go the way you ho
The laughter was still in my chest when my mom's voice shifted. Not dramatically or all at once. It was just a small change in tone, the kind I'd learned to notice over the years. Like she was about to say something she'd been working up to for a while. "Nora." "Mm?" "I need to tell you something." I stopped smiling. "Okay." She paused. Then, carefully, "Leon is coming back." The name landed in my chest like something cold. Wait, who??? For a second I didn't say anything, just lay there on my bed staring at the ceiling, feeling the warmth of the last few minutes drain out of the room completely. "Leon....?" I repeated. "Yes." Her voice had gone gentle in that specific way she used when she already knew she was walking into something difficult. "He called last week. He's been abroad for a while but he's coming home, and I thought... I thought it would be nice if we all—" I frowned and cut in. "No." "Nora—" "Mom." "Just.... listen to me for a second." I sat up slowly, my
The next day passed faster than I expected. Maybe it was because everyone was busy, maybe it was because the Meridian project was now hanging over all our heads like a storm cloud. Either way, I barely had time to think, which was probably a good thing. Because every time my mind slowed down, it
I left the office with my jaw clenched so tightly it hurt.The elevator ride down felt longer than usual. Every second gave me more time to think about what had happened upstairs, which was exactly the problem.I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to think about Cael, or the way he kept l
I barely slept that night.Every single time I closed my eyes, I saw his face again.The way he leaned close to me, the way his hand held my waist like he already owned it, the way he said he had pictures of me on his phone.Pictures.My stomach twisted just thinking about it.I turned in bed again
The knock on the door sounded so suddenly that my entire body jerked. Cael stepped back immediately, and the pressure around me disappeared so fast it almost made me dizzy. For one horrible second, neither of us spoke. I could still feel my heartbeat everywhere. In my throat, my chest, my wrists.







