“I can.”She purses her lips, a frown creasing her forehead.“No touching, Genevieve, I mean it.”She lifts a shoulder. “Fine.”“Really?” For some reason, I do not believe that she’d give up so easily. She has the frustrating type of determination that is impossible to break.“Yeah. It is not like you will not change your mind.” “Genevieve,” I warn.She jumps again, startled. And I realize I do that a lot to her. Scare her by being strict and firm and generally harsh. But she’s the foolish one who does not stay away.She takes a step back. “I…uh…I am going to ask the doctor if I can go inside.”She turns around and runs as fast as she can from me. Her shorts ride up her pale thighs and her top stretches against her back. I try to look away, but I can not.I tell myself it is to see what she’ll do as I openly watch the swish of her hair down her back and her legs that do not seem so short now that she’s not standing in front of me.She’s not a small person. Just small compared to me.M
“You do not get an opinion on this since you are his accomplice, Aspen. Hello? Conflict of interest, anyone?”“Then do you suggest we let go of our work and focus on Krew’s thousand pending cases instead? Do you want to lose your job at the firm, Sebastian? Right, that would not matter since you are a rich boy from a prestigious family and your senator grandpa can find you another job, maybe even help you open your own firm. But how about the hundred others whose living depends on us, huh? Do we send them to your granddaddy, too, or do we take the most logical route with less hassle? Come on, you are supposed to be smart. Which choice makes more sense?”Sebastian does not move a muscle at her calmly spoken words. It is like she’s delivering a closing argument. She’s always precise and to the point. Scathing, too. Which is the reason she’s a lonely soul; no one can handle her.I expect Sebastian to come back with his own retort, because my parents raised him to always have the last wor
GENEVIEVEhave not slept all night.And that is sort of a problem because I become jittery and a bit neurotic when I do not sleep.Insomnia and I aren’t strangers, especially since I did not manage to completely desensitize myself to that word. It might be written in a red Sharpie because it is one of the words I struggle with the most.Along with death.I think I also need to add moving on to the red list because I can not do that. I am supposed to, I have to, but my mind is stuck in a different type of loop that I can not escape.So I spent the night in the closet. I wanted to stay with Dad, but Dan said in that stern voice of his to “go home and get some sleep” because tomorrow—today—is a big day. He did not voice the last part, but I figured it out on my own.However, I couldn’t just get some sleep. Not even after I blasted Twenty One Pilots on my headphones and exhausted myself by dancing. Not even when I swallowed like three sleeping pills. Or maybe it was five. I lost count som
I flinch, my heart hammering in my chest, but it is not because I am scared. Not even close. It is due to how he just spoke.How can someone pack so much command in one single word? In the simple way he says my name? And is it creepy that I want him to keep talking to me in that tone?For that reason alone, I contemplate disobeying him just to hear it again. But at the same time, I can not ignore the warning, the severity of it.So I slowly meet his gaze, and I wish I hadn’t, because he releases my elbow and I feel like I am drowning in nonexistent water.“Do you honestly believe that I chose to do this just to be there for you or because I am a knight in shining armor? I am not, Genevieve. Far from it.”“Then what are you?”“Whatever knights in shining armor fight. And that means there is not one noble, sacrificing bone in my body. The reason I am marrying you is not because I want to protect you or King’s legacy. I am protecting my firm. My own legacy. So the fact that you feel like
Marriage is a profound commitment, symbolizing the union of two individuals who choose to journey through life together. It represents the promise to stand by each other in times of happiness and adversity, to support each other's dreams, and to create a home and family.For many, this dream of marriage is a reflection of their belief in the power of love and human connection. It's a vision of a future where they can build a life with a partner who understands, respects, and shares their values and aspirations.While the dream of getting married is beautiful, it's important to remember that it's just the beginning of a new chapter. Marriage brings its own set of challenges and responsibilities. Communication, compromise, and understanding become essential components in the shared journey of a married life.This dream is a testament to the desire for a loving and enduring partnership. It's an aspiration that celebrates the potential for a shared life filled with love, joy, and mutual s
Dan grabs me by the elbow and pulls me back from his nephew. The act is so effortless that I feel like I am floating on air as we leave the scene without another word.Aspen gives me a look that I do not know how to perceive. Is it pity? An apology? But why would she pity me or apologize to me? She’s not the type. She’s a witch.Right, Dad?“Where are we going?” I ask Dan once I am a bit out of my daze. Only a bit, though, because I think those pills I crunched on like candy are starting to take effect.“I’ll drive you home.”“Why?”“Because you are a few minutes away from collapsing.”So he did know about my exhaustion. Yikes. Am I that obvious to everyone else?“I can take a cab. You said you were going back to the firm.”“Since you were late, I rescheduled my morning meetings, so I do not have anything until the afternoon.” He unlocks his car and steps to the driver’s side.I roll my eyes. “Sorry for messing up your morning meetings, husband.”He pauses with his hand on his door’s
DANIELhen my father said that I have a train brain, it had absolutely nothing to do with how much I actually love trains.My train brain does not reverse. Ever. Once it is moving forward, it just keeps going. There are no regrets. No going back and definitely no retracting what I fucking said or did.So now, I have a train life, one that is only focused on getting shit done and moving on to the next thing, then the one after that, and so on. That is how my train brain works.Forward.Outward.Nothing is kept inward. Otherwise, it’ll rot and cause my downfall.Now is no different. The present and the past are only a step for the future. A stop, a station. They are not what I should be focused on and I certainly should not be thinking about her fucking words. The words that she should not have said in that sultry voice that I want to hear say fucked-up things.I do not want safe and boring.That is what started it all. That is what brought us to this moment where she’s staring at me as
GENEVIEVEwo weeks later, I am forced back to reality.I am forced to let go of the hope I held on to so tightly when Dad had his accident. Because the truth is, he’s not waking up and probably will not. The doctor said that the more time he spends in a coma, the slimmer his chances are of coming out of it.And even though I have been visiting him every day, I can feel the gloomy cloud that hovers over his hospital bed. I can tell that my dad is probably not there anymore, no matter how much I talk to him and read to him and everything in between.And that is just been too painful to think about, so I distracted myself with school before the summer break. And cleaning. I do that a lot when I am anxious or stressed. I scrub floors and counters and dishes and the bathroom.In my head, I am scrubbing my mind clean. Does it work? For a while, maybe, but not in the long term. Because the problems far outweigh the solutions. I thought myself strong enough to take it all—let it soak in and t