Semua Bab Only Yours : Bab 11 - Bab 16

After her mother left, Audrey took a shaky breath, the silence settling uncomfortably in the air. She glanced down at the counter, her hands trembling slightly as she reached for the tray of pastries she'd been arranging. She was trying to keep her composure, to shove down the feelings of inadequacy that her mother's words had unearthed. But Sebastian wasn't having it. He placed his hand over hers, stilling her movements, his touch warm and grounding. "Hey," he said gently. "You don't have to hide how that made you feel." Audrey blinked, glancing up at him, her defenses starting to crumble. She tried to pull her hand away, but he held her firm, his gaze steady and unwavering. "I've known you only a short time, Audrey, but I can already see you have a strength your mother can't see. And, I hate to break it to you, but she's wrong. About everything." She forced a smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. "It's... it's just something I've gotten used to. Hearing things like that from her

The park felt different now. Quieter, somehow. As if it had absorbed the lingering tension and hope we left behind on that weathered bench beneath the swaying tree limbs. I kept thinking about the way Sebastian had looked at me, as though I was the only person in the world who mattered. And I wanted—so badly—to believe that was true. But the moment we stepped back into the city’s rhythm, the spell started to fade. I walked slightly ahead of him on the way back to his car, not because I was trying to get away, but because I was afraid if I looked at him too long, I'd start asking questions I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear the answers to. What did he mean when he said there was more to him than I knew? Why did his touch always seem to burn deeper than anyone else's ever had? And why did a piece of me feel like I’d always been waiting for him? I hated feeling uncertain. The bakery, my little world of flour and butter and sugar, made sense. Ingredients followed rules. Heat transform

The silence was deafening.I stood in the middle of my apartment, staring at the front door Sebastian had walked out of not long ago, my chest rising and falling in uneven breaths. A sick, hollow ache twisted in my stomach, and the air around me felt too still—like even the walls knew something had changed.I didn’t want to cry, but the tears were already forming, burning behind my eyes like a dam about to break.How could he just leave like that? After everything we shared—the rawness, the honesty, the way he held me like I was the only thing that mattered. I thought… I thought we were building something real. Something worth holding on to. But now, he was gone.And I was here. Alone. Again.I wrapped my arms around myself, moving toward the couch like my legs had forgotten how to work properly. Everything felt numb. My skin, my thoughts… even my heart. It was like something had been torn from me and left a gaping wound that no amount of logic could stitch back together.I sank down