All Chapters of My Father's Best Friend, My Obsession: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

~After a week~~Elena~I struggled with my bags as I dragged them into the apartment I recently got after days of searching. As soon as I was in, I shut the door behind me, dropped the bags, and let out a deep sigh.I stood akimbo as I looked around the apartment again, reality kicking me hard in the face.“I am doing this,” I muttered to myself, feeling proud for taking such a bold step when necessary. I left my father’s house about a week ago, and I traveled to a different city entirely; Rome.Far away from home… just the way I wanted it. When I got here, I called my father and my friends to let them know I was safe and I had gotten to the destination where I’d love to start things over.My father tried to persuade me to tell him where I was, but I remained adamant. He was one of the people I wanted space from.I sat on the bed and pulled out my old phone from my bag. I had gotten a new phone when I went out to get some necessities. Ditching such a life had to come with ditching eve

~Elena~The restaurant felt strangely quiet once the door was locked and the lights were dimmed.I stacked the last chair onto the table and wiped my hands against the apron Pa Romano had given me earlier. The faint smell of coffee and warm bread still hung in the air, clinging to the walls like it didn’t want to leave.Diego finished rinsing the last cup in the sink and placed it carefully on the rack.“You done over there?” he asked, glancing at me.“Yeah,” I replied, pushing the last chair in place.Pa Romano stepped out from the kitchen just then, wiping his hands on a towel. “Good work today,” he said warmly, his thick accent wrapping around the words. “Especially you, Elena. First day and you didn’t run away.”I smiled politely. “Thank you.”Diego tossed the cloth he had been using onto the counter and stretched his shoulders slightly.“So…” he began, glancing at me, “do you have anything to do when you get back home tonight?”I shook my head slowly. “Not really.”“Well,” he sai

~Elena~When I woke up the next morning, the strange heaviness from the night before had mostly faded, not completely, but enough that I could convince myself it had been nothing serious, and once that thought settled in my mind I decided not to think about it again.My stomach felt calmer, my head clearer, and the wave of dizziness that had hit me on the street the previous night was gone, so I simply pushed the memory aside and focused on the one thing that felt normal right now.Work.By the time I arrived at the restaurant, the morning rush had already started, and the small space was filled with the familiar sounds of cups clinking against saucers, chairs scraping lightly against the floor, and the coffee machine releasing bursts of steam as Diego prepared drinks behind the counter.The warm scent of coffee beans filled the air, mixing with the smell of fresh bread coming from the kitchen, and for a moment I just stood there taking it in because something about it felt comforting

~Martin~The house felt wrong.I noticed it the moment I stepped through the front door, though I couldn’t explain exactly what had changed because everything looked the same, the same furniture, the same polished floors, the same soft lights glowing in the hallway, yet the silence pressed against my chest in a way it never used to.I closed the door behind me and stood there for a moment, loosening the knot of my tie slowly while my eyes drifted across the living room. It was quiet. Too quiet.And before I could stop myself my mind went to her immediately.Elena.I exhaled slowly and walked further into the house while pulling the tie loose from around my collar, then I tossed it over my shoulder as I headed toward the stairs, though my steps slowed when I passed the dining table because I suddenly remembered how she used to sit there most evenings with a book in her hand and her legs tucked beneath the chair.She would read and write for hours. Sometimes she would hum quietly withou

~Julian~The house always felt too alive for the kind of mood I carried around these days, like everything here breathed too loudly, laughed too easily, existed too brightly, and no matter how hard I tried to blend into it. I felt like a stain that refused to fade, sitting at the far end of the dining table with a glass of water in my hand that I hadn’t touched for minutes because even the smallest movement felt like effort I wasn’t willing to give, and across from me, my stepfather was halfway into a story about some business deal that had gone right while my half-siblings listened with wide eyes and occasional laughter, the kind that came easily when life hadn’t knocked you sideways yet. I watched them for a second longer than I should have before dragging my gaze away because something about it irritated me, not them exactly, but the ease of it all, the normalcy, the fact that the world hadn’t stopped spinning just because mine had tilted off its axis.“Julian,” my stepfather cal