LOGINSKYI stared at my reflection in the full-length mirror, drawing in a slow, deliberate breath through my nose. The woman looking back at me refused to let shadows ruin the day. William’s father’s voice still echoed in my head cold, calling me an abomination like it was a fact but I pushed it down. Deep. Buried it beneath the quiet resolve I had been building for weeks.“Don’t let things get in your way,” I whispered to the glass. “Just use them.”My phone buzzed on the vanity. Ashley’s name lit up the screen. I sighed, odd tightness curling in my chest, but I answered anyway.“Hello…”“Hey, Sky! Can we do a girls’ trip? It’s been forever since we hung out properly. Let’s go out, grab drinks, dance until our feet hurt…”I rolled my eyes, already reaching for my bag. “Ashley, I am not interested. I am busy.”“Busy?” She sounded genuinely surprised. “It’s Saturday. And… you are not coaching anymore. What are you busy with?”The line went quiet as I let the silence stretch just long enou
WILLIAMThe morning light filtered through the half-open blinds in soft gold streaks, painting the bedroom in a warmth that felt almost cruel. I lay there, tangled in sheets that still smelled like her jasmine and the faint trace of last night’s sweat and surrender. Anita was curled against my chest, one leg thrown over mine, her breathing slow and even. A month without this. A month of empty hotel beds and stadium roars that sounded hollow. Now that I had her back, every cell in my body screamed not to move, breathe too loud, or to let the world steal this moment.My phone buzzed on the nightstand like an intruder. I ignored it the first time. The second. But the third vibration cut through the quiet like a blade.“Will… pick up your damn phone,” she murmured sleepily, her voice still husky from the way I had made her scream my name hours earlier.I rolled my eyes, frustration already coiling in my gut, and reached for it without checking the screen. “Hello.”“Heard you are back f
SKYThe apartment finally looked like a home. Boxes gone, furniture in place, soft throw pillows on the couch, a few framed photos of the girls from training scattered on the shelves. William had been surprisingly good at lifting heavy things without complaint, asking where I wanted the lamp, even hanging the curtains straight the first time. For hours we had worked in near silence after his declaration, the weight of “you belong to me” hanging between us like smoke.Now the place was quiet except for the low hum of the AC and the distant city noise filtering through the windows. I leaned against the doorway to the bedroom, arms crossed, watching him.“Sleep here,” I said, breaking the quiet for the first time since he had torn up the contract. “It’s late. You are jet-lagged and you look exhausted.”He turned from where he was folding a shirt like his shirt into one of my drawers. A slow, dangerous smirk curved his mouth.“Yeah… not like I had anywhere else in mind.”Before I could
SKY“Are you okay?” I pushed myself back from him, staring like he had lost his mind. My heart was hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat.“Be yours?” The words came out sharper than I meant. “What am I supposed to tell Levi? How about you…”My sentence died when he pulled me closer again, hands firm on my waist, eyes burning into mine.“I want you to be mine, Anita.”That name again, the way he said it low, rough, possessive always hit me somewhere deep. No one else had ever made “Anita” sound like a secret only he knew.“A month without you felt like years,” he continued, voice quieter now, almost broken. “I kept waiting. One message. One call. Anything to show you cared even a little, but nothing.”He reached for my hands, trying to pull them to his chest but I snatched them away.“Don’t I deserve that much?” I shot back, even though every word felt like glass in my mouth. “You said hurtful things too. I don’t get mad and disappear on you. You leave without a word, and I am
SKYThe apartment was a beautiful disaster boxes stacked like forgotten promises, bubble wrap crunching under my bare feet, the single couch pushed against the window as if it was trying to escape the chaos. I had signed the papers this morning, handed back the keys to the old place, and driven here with the windows down, letting the heat wrap around me like a second skin. Tomorrow was Saturday and the girls had the weekend free. That meant two whole days to unpack, organize, and pretend I wasn’t still carrying last month’s silence in my chest.I collapsed onto the couch, legs stretched out, and stared at the ceiling. The quiet pressed in too hard. My fingers found my phone before I could talk myself out of it.I opened our last message with William. His messages from that final morning glared back and that was it.“Pick up your damn phone, Anita.”“ I am not doing this over text.” “Answer me”. “Anita.”I had let them sit there, blue ticks mocking me, until days bled into weeks an
SKYThe afternoon sun hung low over the training fields, turning the grass a vivid, almost unreal green. I pocketed my phone after reading the message, unable to stop the smile that pulled at my lips.“Everything is done, ma’am.”Three simple words, and yet they felt like the first real breath I had taken in weeks.I clapped my hands as my little warriors, sweat-soaked and grinning, immediately abandoned their water bottles and sprinted toward me in a chaotic, joyful pack.“That’s it for today!” I called over their excited chatter. “Go eat properly. No skipping meals, no junk, and definitely no hunger strikes… You get two days off this weekend but don't forget to practice on your own for two hours. I want all of you strong for whatever comes next.”Just then, Mia tilted her head with that too-perceptive look twelve-year-olds sometimes get. “Coach… does that mean we are finally ready for a real competition?”Well, our relationship has gotten better these past few weeks.I met her eyes
WILLIAMThe morning light slipped through the half-drawn curtains in soft, golden ribbons, painting stripes across the tangled sheets. I woke slowly, the way you do when your body knows before your mind that something perfect is happening. Sky was still asleep in my arms, her bare skin warm again
The room was filled with silence, broken only by the soft rustle of sheets and the faint rhythm of my breathing. I lay there, still in the same gown from the gala, the fabric clinging to my skin like a second shadow. Exhaustion had pulled me under hours ago, but now something warmer, heavier, anc
WILLIAM“Dude, you really gonna go after her?”Victor’s voice hit me from behind like a cheap shot. I spun around so fast he flinched.“The fuck, man… don’t sneak up on me like that again,” I snapped, voice low and edged with leftover rage.I had already been boiling that she had left for the last
SKYI managed to arrange myself in the bathroom mirror, smoothing my dress, fixing my smudged mascara, running cold water over my wrists to calm the flush on my cheeks. My reflection stared back and I could see my lips swollen. Then I noticed the dark purple hickey blooming on the side of my neck,







