~Elena~I didn’t think I would be this calm standing in front of a room full of people waiting to hear me speak. But I was.Not because I wasn’t nervous, but because the kind of nervousness I used to feel had changed. It wasn’t fear anymore. It was awareness. Awareness that I was no longer telling a story people were trying to interpret through noise.The book launch space was warmer than I expected, not in temperature but in energy. People weren’t whispering in corners the way they used to. They were holding copies of my book, flipping pages, reading quietly instead of tearing things apart online.Richard stood slightly behind me, not in a way that made me feel guarded, but in a way that felt like he was choosing to stay present without taking over. That was new for us. It wasn’t distance, but it wasn’t control either.“You’re staring again,” I said without turning fully.“I’m observing,” he replied.“That’s the same thing,” I said.“It isn’t,” he said.I finally looked at him. “You
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