Julianna POVThe house hadn’t changed.That realization hit me the moment I stepped inside, like a punch to the chest I hadn’t braced for. The faint smell of ginger tea lingered in the air. The old clock on the wall still ticked slightly too loud. Even the floorboard near the hallway still creaked when I stepped on it.Home.For a second, I just stood there, my bag slipping from my shoulder, wondering how a place could feel so safe and so fragile at the same time.“Mom?” I called.“In the kitchen,” she answered.Her voice grounded me immediately.I followed it, finding her by the counter, hands wrapped around a mug, eyes tired but sharp in the way only hers ever were. She turned the moment she saw me, and before I could say anything, she crossed the room and pulled me into her arms.I didn’t even try to hold it together.Everything I’d been carrying—the fear, the anger, the confusion—collapsed all at once. I pressed my face into her shoulder, breathing her in, reminding myself that th
Last Updated : 2026-01-22
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