ANMELDENAliya's POVThe evening settled in slowly.Not all at once.Not dramatically.Just… gradually.The sunlight that had filled the apartment earlier softened into a warm amber glow, then faded into the cool blue of dusk. Shadows stretched longer across the floor, wrapping around furniture, settling into corners like they belonged there.Leo had fallen asleep on the couch.Not intentionally.He had been talking one moment about how his “garage” needed an upgrade and then his words slowed, blurred, until they stopped altogether.Now he lay curled slightly on his side, one arm tucked under his head, the other still loosely holding one of his toy cars.I stood a few feet away, watching him.There was something about this part of the day that always made me pause.Something quiet.Something fragile.The world outside didn’t stop, but inside this space, it always felt like it did.“Does he do that often?” Dylan asked from behind me.His voice was low, careful not to wake Leo.“Only when he’s p
Dylan's POVThe drive felt longer than it should have. It wasn’t because of traffic, not because of distance, because my mind wouldn’t settle. Every red light felt unnecessary, every slow-moving car in front of me felt like an interruption I didn’t have the patience for.I wasn’t used to that.Usually, I moved through things with precision, control, distance, but this, this wasn’t something I could manage like everything else, because it mattered, more than I was used to admitting.By the time I pulled up in front of her building, the sky had already dimmed into early evening, the last streaks of sunlight fading into a deep blue that stretched across the city.I sat in the car for a second, just a second, hands still on the wheel, breathing.Then I got out.When she opened the door, everything else fell away. It wasn’t dramatic, there was no rush. No immediate movement.She just stood there.Framed by the soft light of the apartment behind her, her hair loosely pulled back, a few stra
Dylan's POVThere’s a difference between visiting a place… and starting to feel like you belong in it.I noticed it the moment I stepped into her apartment again. It wasn’t just familiarity. It was the way my body didn’t tense.The way my eyes didn’t scan automatically like they usually did in unfamiliar spaces. The way I knew without thinking where things were: the couch, the kitchen counter. Leo’s growing construction project that now looked like it had taken over half the living room. I stepped over a carefully placed block, adjusting my stride instinctively.“Careful!” Leo called out from the floor, his hands frozen midair like I had just almost caused a disaster.“I see it,” I said.“No, you don’t,” he insisted. “That part is very important.” I crouched down slightly, studying the structure like it was something worth analyzing.“And what does this part do?” I asked.“It holds everything together.” I glanced at him.“That’s a lot of responsibility.”“I know,” he said seriously. I
Dylan's POV There’s a difference between visiting a place… and starting to feel like you belong in it.I noticed it the moment I stepped into her apartment again. It wasn’t just familiarity. It was the way my body didn’t tense.The way my eyes didn’t scan automatically like they usually did in unfamiliar spaces. The way I knew without thinking, where things were, the couch, the kitchen counter. Leo’s growing construction project that now looked like it had taken over half the living room. I stepped over a carefully placed block, adjusting my stride instinctively.“Careful!” Leo called out from the floor, his hands frozen mid-air like I had just almost caused a disaster.“I see it,” I said.“No, you don’t,” he insisted. “That part is very important.” I crouched down slightly, studying the structure like it was something worth analyzing.“And what does this part do?” I asked.“It holds everything together.” I glanced at him.“That’s a lot of responsibility.”“I know,” he said seriously
Aliya's POV Morning came slowly, soft light filtered through the curtains in thin golden lines, stretching lazily across the walls and spilling onto the bed. The air carried that quiet stillness that only existed before the city fully woke up, the distant hum of early traffic, the occasional sound of a car door shutting somewhere below, faint and far away.For a moment, I didn’t move. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, trying to hold onto that fragile space between sleep and awareness, but then, it came back.Everything from last night, the kiss, the conversation, the way I didn’t pull away. I closed my eyes briefly, exhaling slowly.“This is getting out of hand,” I whispered to myself, but the words didn’t carry the same certainty anymore, because if I was being honest. It didn’t feel like something spinning out of control.It felt like something settling into place, and that was far more dangerous. Leo’s voice broke through my thoughts not long after.“Mom!” I pushed myself
Dylan's POVFor the first time since I met her, she didn’t pull away completely, she stepped back, yes, created space but she stayed and that mattered more than the kiss.More than the words.More than anything else that had happened tonight.I watched her carefully, the way she shifted her weight slightly, like she was still grounding herself, still adjusting to something new she hadn’t fully accepted yet.Her arms dropped from where she had wrapped them around herself earlier, now resting loosely at her sides, less guarded, not open but not closed either… progress.“You’re quiet,” I said. She let out a soft breath, glancing away briefly before looking back at me.“I’m thinking.”“That’s dangerous.” A faint smile touched her lips, barely there but real.“You’re one to talk.”“I’ve already decided.”“That’s exactly the problem.”“It’s only a problem if I’m wrong.” She tilted her head slightly.“And you don’t think you are?”“No.”Her eyes lingered on mine for a moment longer this time
Aliya's POVI keep staring at my phone long after the call ends.Even though the line has gone dead, my hand is still wrapped around it, pressed against my ear as if Dylan’s voice might suddenly come back through it. My fingers have gone slightly numb from holding the phone so tightly, but I don’t
Aliya's POV“I have moved on, I suggest you do the same.”He looked at me as if he was in an actual pin and, somewhere deep down, I felt like I had hurt him but when I remembered how he had looked at me the night he gave me the divorce papers, I knew that I could not believe anything from him, so I
Aliya's POV“You didn’t tell me you would come,” I said as I saw Dylan’s Porsche parked outside the school’s compound. It is another visitation at the school.“You did not ask.”“But we both agreed you wouldn’t come when he insisted.”“Yes, and then he called me and I could not turn him down.”“Oh
Aliya's POVI could almost swear I saw so many questions in his eyes that I was not going to answer. He most likely wanted to know if Richard’s claims were true, but I know he had a question or doubt something like that. He did not voice it and I felt he did not need to know that.Getting home that







