LOGINLydia POVEventually I reached for my sleeping pills from the bedside drawer.Because honestly?A woman could not have one peaceful emotional crisis in this life apparently.I swallowed one with water, stared at the ceiling for another few minutes, then finally grabbed my phone.Lydia:DR Sana, I need an emergency therapy session tomorrow morning. Please tell me you have space.The reply came surprisingly fast.Dr. Sana:8 a.m.You are officially my most stressful client.I snorted despite myself.Then finally, eventually, sleep dragged me under.The next morning felt painfully early.I woke up exhausted despite technically sleeping.Fantastic.I got dressed quietly in a cream turtleneck and wide leg trousers, tied my hair back lazily, then drove toward Dr. Sana’s office in complete silence.No music.No podcast.Nothing.I needed to hear my own thoughts unfortunately.Traffic crawled slowly while my mind kept replaying everything again like a toxic emotional slideshow.By the time I
Lydia’s POVBy the time I got home that night, my brain genuinely felt overheated.Marcus.Dave.My children.My feelings.My therapist was about to earn every cent of her degree because what exactly was all this emotional nonsense?I closed the front door behind me quietly and kicked off my heels with the exhaustion of a woman who had absolutely no business still being awake.Then—“Happy birthday, Mommy!”I jumped so hard I almost screamed.The twins burst out from the dining area looking wildly proud of themselves while holding what appeared to be the most structurally concerning cake I had ever seen in my life.There was icing everywhere.Not on the cake.Everywhere else.The table.Their clothes.Eli’s eyebrow somehow.And behind them hung a crooked handmade banner that looked like it had survived a minor hurricane.HAPY BIRTHDAY MOM.One “P” missing.The “M” hanging lower than every other letter.Perfect.Absolutely perfect.“Oh my God,” I laughed immediately, pressing my hand a
Lydia’s POV The thing about Marcus was that he loved quietly until suddenly it became impossible not to notice. I had been overwhelmed for nearly two straight weeks. Work deadlines. School activities. One child developing a sudden obsession with building “scientifically accurate” pillow forts. The other trying to negotiate later bedtimes using emotional manipulation disguised as logic. I was exhausted. Completely exhausted. And somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, I forgot my own birthday dinner. Not the birthday itself. Just the reservation. I had booked a private dinner nearly three weeks earlier with every intention of attending after work, then completely forgot because my brain had turned into corporate mashed potatoes. I only remembered when my assistant asked: “Are you still going to your reservation tonight?” I stared at her blankly. “What reservation?” By the time I got home later that evening, I looked terrible. Mentally. Physically. Spiritually.
Lydia’s POVOver the next few days, Marcus became unbearably thoughtful.Not in a loud way.Not in the dramatic movie style way where men suddenly start standing outside windows with flowers and emotional speeches.No.Marcus was quieter than that.More dangerous too, honestly.Because he paid attention.And paying attention was such an intimate thing.It started small.One random afternoon during work, he texted asking how I was doing, and I complained absentmindedly that the office coffee machine made cappuccino that tasted like corporate punishment.I said it once.Casually.Didn’t think about it again.The next morning, my assistant walked into my office carrying coffee from that tiny café I liked three streets away.“Marcus dropped it off,” she said casually.I stared at the cup for a second.Extra foam.One sugar.Cinnamon dusting.Exactly how I liked it.That should not have affected me as much as it did.But it did.Then there was another evening after a particularly exhaustin
Lydia’s POVBy the time Marcus texted me the café location, I was already halfway dressed.Your favorite café.That alone almost made me cancel.Because honestly, why did men always insist on adding emotional symbolism to everything?Still, I sighed, locked my phone, and continued getting ready.I didn’t want this meeting to feel too serious.That was the problem.The more serious something felt, the more complicated it became emotionally. And right now, my emotions were already overcrowded enough without adding another situation into the mess.So instead of dressing like someone heading into a relationship defining conversation, I chose simplicity.Well.My version of simplicity.I wore a long cream coat dress that cinched softly at the waist with gold buttons running down the front. Elegant. Structured. Clean. The sleeves stopped perfectly at my wrists, and the fabric moved smoothly against my skin when I walked. I paired it with nude heels and small gold earrings, then packed my ha
Lydia’s POVBy the time I got home that night, I was exhausted in a way sleep alone probably could not fix.Not emotional exhaustion this time.Just pure physical stress.My heels were killing me, my makeup felt heavy on my skin, and I was almost certain I had smiled at at least two hundred people during that event while pretending I was not mentally counting the seconds until I could leave.Being a successful woman was genuinely a full time athletic sport.People only saw the polished parts.The outfits.The confidence.The networking.The achievements.Nobody saw the exhaustion underneath it.The nonstop emails.The meetings.The pressure.The responsibility of constantly holding everything together.And honestly?I was tired.I dropped my bag on the console table immediately after entering the house and loosened the earrings from my ears with a long sigh before heading upstairs quietly.The house was peaceful already.Too peaceful.Which meant the twins had definitely fallen asleep





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