Nova's POVI could smell the food even before I got to the dining room. Something good and spicy like the Sunday meals I remembered from way back. My stomach made a noise and I smiled as I walked toward the kitchen sounds.Rita was laughing there. That laugh always made me feel good inside. This whole thing was weird. I had only been back home for two days but old memories kept popping up everywhere. And I actually felt like I belonged here again. Like I was complete. Even though some stuff still hurts.I walked around the corner and stopped. Food covered the whole table. Chicken, rice with coconut, fried plantains that looked so amazing, and bowls of vegetables that reminded me of dinners when I was much younger. We did not have much money then but we had what mattered.Dad was already seated at the table. He was putting on a grey shirt and his glasses were crooked while he looked at his phone. He saw me and smiled big."There she is," he said. "We were gonna come find you.""Is this
Nova’s POV The golden hue of morning slipped into my room, showing a quiet glow on the curtains and the walls. I blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling for a while, before I remembered that I was home. Home. Not the penthouse and not the hospital. But here, in my childhood room. Jasmine Miller’s room.I smelled toast from downstairs and maybe scrambled eggs. My stomach sounded and that reminded me that I did not eat much last night. There were too many emotions, and so many memories slamming into me like a tide. But this morning felt different. Still emotional, but quiet. Softer somehow.I brushed my teeth and wore something simple, hoodie and leggings. No need for the poised Nova mask. Here, I was just Jasmine. No expectations. No cameras. No board meetings. Just a daughter who wants to find her way back to her family that has been torn apart before.When I went downstairs, I saw my dad there, he was already seated at the breakfast table, going through the newspaper pages one after the o
Nova’s POV I woke up with a start. It was not a scream that woke me up, and it was not a nightmare either. It was silent. Too still. Too foreign. I sat down on my bed, my clothes were already soaked with sweat, my nightgown was stuck on my back. My breath came in fast, not from fear, but from confusion. It took a while for me to get to where I was. The moonlight reflected through the same old window. My eyes roamed across the shelf of forgotten books, the quiet old table, the dollhouse in the corner, and it finally clicked. I was not Nova Adam here. Not Levi’s wife. Not Jace’s ex-wife. Not the woman who was always running uphill trying to prove her worth in someone else’s world. Here, in this quiet house, in this room frozen in time, I was Jasmine Miller. A daughter. A sister. A girl that once wore mismatched socks and hid cookies under her bed. I picked up the robe Rita left on the chair that was close to the bed. It was soft and oversized, a lavender that was
Nova’s POVDinner was warm—literally and emotionally.I sat at the edge of the dining table, still feeling like I was floating in a bubble of unreality. Everything around me felt oddly familiar but deeply surreal. The clinking of silverware, the soft hum of the radio playing in the background, and the occasional sound of footsteps upstairs—it was like stepping into a dream I once had but forgot I’d dreamed at all.Rita had made roast chicken, just the way she remembered I used to like it—soft, juicy, seasoned with rosemary and garlic. The mashed potatoes were buttery, and the gravy was rich. There was even a bowl of baked mac and cheese resting beside a plate of golden-brown dinner rolls. She kept apologizing for it being “simple,” but it tasted like a feast.It tasted like home.David was pouring juice into glasses like we were ten again. “We don’t do wine on first nights back,” he joked with a small smile.I laughed quietly. “I think that’s fair.”They sat across from me like they
Nova’s POVI stood for a few seconds longer after Levi left, staring at the door like something else was meant to happen—some grand epiphany, some word to change everything. But nothing came. Just the whisper of the closing door and the lingering touch of his forehead kiss still tingling on my skin.I inhaled deeply, grounding myself.This was my choice. And I was sticking to it.My small overnight bag was already packed on the hospital chair. My discharge papers were cleared, the nurses had all given me their warm wishes and final check-ins. And somewhere downstairs, in a waiting car, Rita—my mother—was waiting.I’d asked her to give me just a few minutes alone. I told her I wanted to speak with Levi. But maybe, truthfully, I just wanted to leave this hospital room on my own two feet, in my own time, without the weight of expectation or watching eyes.I took one last glance around the room—the sterile walls, the white bedsheets, the machines that beeped and breathed alongside me du
Nova’s POVThe room felt quieter than it had been all through the week. Maybe because my heart was louder now, pounding with decisions, grief, and stubborn hope all at once. I was leaving today. My bag was zipped and lined up neatly by the bed. The last of the flowers Levi brought me were already wilted, and I did not have it in me to throw them.I sat down again, letting the rays of sunlight reflect through the window blinds. My phone was on my lap, the screen was dark, until I tapped it and read Levi’s last text.“Be there in 20 minutes. I will help you pack the rest. Anything you want from the apartment?”I replied with a short list. A few journals. My favourite coffee mug. My navy blazer. I kept the message brief, but I knew Levi would read between the lines. He always did.For the first time in a while, I praised myself, not for being strong, but for adhering to what I said I was going to do. I did not go back on my word. I was not falling apart. I was not the same woman who once