Lahat ng Kabanata ng THE WEIGHT OF LOVING YOU: Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

JESSICAI woke up to cold sheets. Again.My hand reached instinctively for the spot beside me. It was muscle memory by now… searching, hoping, needing.But there was nothing there. Just a dip in the mattress, the faintest trace of warmth that was already fading. And his scent—God, his scent. That lingering mix of woodsy cologne and heat and skin. It hit me in the chest like a ghost. Like last night had been real and not some dream I conjured just to feel wanted for a few hours.Typical Liam. Here, but never really here.I stared at the ceiling, blinking back the sting behind my eyes.I told myself not to feel stupid. Not to read too much into the way his fingers had curled around mine while I drifted off. Or how he kissed my shoulder in the dark like it meant something.But I did feel stupid.Because I let myself believe—again—that maybe this time would be different. Maybe I wouldn’t wake up alone. Maybe the man who made my whole body forget how to breathe would still be lying next to

JESSICAI walked into the house like it had personally offended me.My bag hit the floor with a heavy thud, and my heels tapped out a bitter rhythm across the hardwood like a warning shot. My entire body was stiff with the kind of exhaustion no coffee, nap, or deep breath could fix.“I swear,” I muttered under my breath, tugging at the collar of my blouse, “if Liam so much as breathes in my direction today…”No hello. No check-in. Not even a glance toward the kitchen to see if he was home. My mood was a locked door, and I wasn’t offering him a key tonight.I headed straight to my room like a woman on the edge, already yanking off the fitted blazer that had felt like a cage all day.The hallway was dim, quiet, too quiet. I didn’t bother flipping the light switch. I didn’t need illumination to know I was alone in this part of the house…alone in more ways than one.The second my bedroom door closed behind me, I let myself collapse face-first onto the bed like the world owed me that much.

JESSICAI stood in front of the mirror and just... stared.The black dress clung to me like it had memorized my body, trailing over my curves like it had a personal vendetta to make Liam eat his words. Backless. Silky. Dangerous.It was a dress I hadn’t planned to wear for anyone but myself…a dress I’d bought in a moment of rebellion and confidence that rarely collided.I reached for the necklace he gave me just two days ago—the one with the delicate rose pendant that shimmered softly under my bedroom light. I hooked it around my neck, fingers fumbling slightly."Friends don’t give you necklaces," I muttered. "At least not ones that look like they belong in a proposal box."It was a gift, he said, after work. Out of nowhere. No explanation. No occasion. I’d thanked him then, of course—awkwardly, like someone unsure whether to hug or salute.But now? Now that I was dressed like this, standing here, alone in my room with a flutter in my chest and my heart playing hopscotch? I felt the n

JESSICAI stumbled into the office bathroom like I’d just survived a war zone.The harsh fluorescent lights flickered above, humming like they were mocking me. My heels clicked against the tiles in uneven steps until I reached the sink.The cold porcelain was the only thing keeping me upright as I gripped the edge with white-knuckled hands. I leaned in, pressing my palms down hard, grounding myself.My reflection stared back—pale, hollow-eyed, barely holding it together.My mascara had smudged slightly beneath one eye, and my lips... they were still a little swollen, like they were holding onto yesterday’s memory.That kiss.Liam’s kiss.I closed my eyes for a second, just to breathe, just to not see myself. But it didn’t help.His mouth was still on mine; the feel of it was seared into me like a secret brand. His hands. His voice. The way he’d looked at me like I was both his mistake and miracle in the same breath.My heart hasn’t slowed down since.I opened my eyes again and whispere

JESSICAMy head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton and left out in the rain. Heavy. Fuzzy. Every thought moved like sludge.I tried to move my fingers, but they didn’t listen. Breathing felt like work. Thinking? A disaster.Voices floated around me—sharp, muffled, almost like I was underwater. I couldn’t place where I was, or why everything felt like it had been pulled apart and stitched back wrong.“Liam?” I barely whispered it, not even sure if it was real or just a dream I wanted too much.The moment his name passed my lips, everything shifted. The haze fractured.My eyelids dragged open like someone had tied bricks to them, but somehow, I managed to blink through the blur just enough to catch the shape of the room. Cold. White. Hospital.And them.Liam. And Lucas.Both standing at the edge of my hospital bed.Both staring at each other like one more breath would be the one to set everything on fire.Liam looked like he hadn’t slept in a year. His hair was messy, like he’d r