登入Cassie coiled in the middle of the living room, the photo still clutched in her trembling hands. The tears continued. She pressed her face into her arms, trying to muffle the sound, but it was no use. The pain poured out of her in waves; the hurt in Reggie’s eyes, the betrayal in his voice, the way he had looked at her like she had shattered everything they had built. She cried until her throat burned, until her eyes swelled, until her chest ached with every gasping breath. Sleep never came that night. She stayed on the floor for hours, rocking back and forth, replaying the confrontation on an endless loop. Every word he had thrown at her cut deeper each time. "How long have you been lying to me?" She had tried to explain, but he hadn’t let her. He had walked away. The man who had promised her safety, who had held her through nightmares, who had asked her to be his girlgirlfried had walked away. The apartment felt colder than it ever had. The candles from the night before had long
The front door slammed open with such force that the walls seemed to shake. Cassie jumped up from the couch, her heart leaping into her throat. She had been waiting for him, curled up with a blanket, trying to rehearse how she would finally tell him everything. But the man who stormed into the apartment was not the Reggie who had kissed her goodbye days ago. This Reggie looked shattered. His eyes were wild, red-rimmed, and burning with a pain so raw it stole her breath. His hair was disheveled, his shirt wrinkled from the flight, and in his clenched fist was a piece of paper. He crossed the room in three long strides and thrust it into her face. “What the fuck is this, Cassie?” His voice cracked with hurt and betrayal, low and trembling. “Tell me. Tell me right now.” Her hands shook as she took the paper. It was a photo of her from the Forbidden. It was enlarged and was a bit blurry. She was on her knees before the dominant figure. The angle and the lighting did not help the intima
Reggie stood at the wide glass windows of the temporary executive suite, gazing out over the sprawling construction site below. The steel skeleton of the new building stretched toward the sky, illuminated by floodlights that cut through the gathering dusk. Ten days. Ten grueling days of back-to-back meetings, site inspections under harsh sun, tense negotiations with contractors, and late-night reviews of blueprints that all began to blur together. He hated that his business partner had insisted that they be hands-on for this project. Mr. Robertson was a good man but he had obsessive tendencies. He always wanted things a certain way, which was both a good and bad way. He was glad for the partnership though. Reggie was not one to let go of a business opportunity. The fear of going broke, reverting back to being a broke foster kid had turned him into an workaholic.He missed Cassie. He needed to spend more time with her. He realized that he had been away for longer periods than he had
Cassie sat on the edge of the bed in the dim glow of her bedside lamp, the apartment wrapped in heavy silence. It was raining again. She had come back to the house when it was almost dusk, having sat at the bench for hours. She had taken a bath, hoping it would calm her down, pre-heated some food from the fridge and attempted to eat it but did not have an appetite. She decided to head to bed and try to get some sleep. But before that, she decided to call her friends and tell them what was going on. Twenty minutes later, her thumb was still hovering over the video call icon in the group chat with Emily and Sarah. Her eyes were already burning with unshed tears. The weight she had been carrying alone felt like it was crushing her lungs. She couldn’t do this anymore. With a shaky breath, she tapped the button. The call connected after two rings. Emily and Sarah’s faces filled the screen, both of them in casual clothes, lounging in what looked like Sarah’s living room. “Hey, you!” Emi
Cassie sat at the small corner table in the neutral café, hands wrapped tightly around a lukewarm cup of tea she had no intention of drinking. The place was quiet. It was mid afternoon, with only a few scattered patrons typing on laptops or reading newspapers. Soft jazz played in the background, but it did nothing to calm the storm raging inside her chest. Her heart hammered so hard she could feel it in her throat. Every few seconds, her eyes darted toward the door, waiting for him.She had decided to unblock one of the numbers and text Dominic for a meet up. Maybe facing him and warning him off her would do the trick since texts didn't do. She had arranged the meeting through a single, terse text at dawn when she woke up from the nightmare. They were to meet at a neutral and public place. She had warned him about playing games. She had spent the entire morning pacing the apartment, rehearsing what she would say, how she would stay calm, how she would demand he delete every photo an
She woke up in the middle of tye night, sweat trickling down her face. The nightmare had been too real. She rubbed her eyes to rid her brain off the dream. Dominic had been too near. The sex had been mutual and she had enjoyed it at the time, no doubt, bit now je was stalking her, even in her dreams. And she did not like it at all. She was stressed from too much thinking, had bags under her eyes for lack of sleep. She picked up her phone from the night stand and checked the time. It was a few minutes past 2 and sleep had just evaded her like that. Her thumb hovered over the deleted messages folder. Even though she had blocked the numbers, the messages still danced in her brain; Dominic’s words, the blurry photo from The Forbidden. They posed a threat to her and it stressed her that her past could destroy everything she had built with Reggie. Her hands trembled as she closed the app. She couldn’t look anymore. The weight of it all pressed down on her until breathing felt difficult
The aroma of freshly cooked food filled the apartment as Reggie carried the steaming dishes from the stove to the dining area. Cassie followed him, still bundled in the soft blanket she had wrapped around herself on the couch earlier. The familiar domesticity of the scene settled her nerves. After
Cassie groaned as the shrill ringing of her phone cut through the fog of sleep. It was on the bedside table, blinking insistently, and she fumbled blindly for it, her hair falling into her eyes. Without even looking at the screen, she pressed the answer button, her voice thick with sleep. “Hello?
The taste of Reggie still lingered on her tongue. It was a reminder of the power she had just wielded over him. She could hear his ragged breathing fading behind her, and a thrill shot through her at the thought of what might come next. They had crossed so many lines already but tonight, she craved
They finished eating in a silence that hung heavy between them, thick with unspoken words and lingering glances. The clink of forks against plates had been the only sound for the last few minutes, each bite a distraction from the heat that had sparked during that impulsive kiss. Reggie watched Cass







