جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 100

Avelin POVThe building feels different at night. A certain weight settles over the quiet. During the day, everything presses in: voices, footsteps, whispers, glances that linger too long. But now the world has stepped back just enough for me to breathe.I stand outside his office door longer than I should, hand hovering.I don't know why I'm nervous. I've stood in front of him before. Talked to him, argued with him, cried in his presence. But this feels different because today he chose me. Not quietly, not privately, not in half-measures. He said it to the world.My husband.Those words haven't stopped echoing in my head since I read them. My chest tightens just thinking about it. I close my eyes, steady myself, and knock. Once. Soft.A pause. Footsteps. Then the door opens, and there he is.Leander, not behind a desk or across a room, but right in front of me. Close enough that I can see the details, I try not to look at them too long because they hurt. The familiar line of his jaw.

Avelin POVDinner was not part of the plan. It never is with him. Leander is supposed to come for the visit and spend time with Shen. Then he is supposed to leave before the sky turns dark. That is the rhythm we built. That is the boundary I told myself I could survive.But tonight Shen fell asleep early. He fell asleep too early. One moment, he was talking about the park and a dog he saw. He talked about how Papa runs slower than him while looking completely serious. The next moment, his words softened and slowed and stopped entirely.I carried him to bed, and Leander followed quietly. We both stood there for a moment while watching Shen breathe. He looked slow, peaceful, and safe. Leander reached out without thinking and pulled the blanket higher over Shen's shoulder. His fingers lingered a second longer than necessary as he smoothed the fabric. That small and careful touch hit me harder than anything else because Shen used to do that. He did it always. He did it every night.I turn

Avelin POVThe apartment feels smaller when he is here.It is not the walls, not the furniture, nothing has changed. But when Leander stands in my kitchen, broad shoulders filling the narrow space, his presence quiet but heavy, the air shifts. It grows warm and full and too full.I keep my hands busy because if I stop, I will feel everything at once."Cut it thinner," I say, pointing at the carrots on the board. My voice comes out steadier than I expect. "They cook faster that way."Leander glances down at the knife, then back at me. "I know how to cut vegetables," he says, without arrogance, just calm certainty.Still, I cross my arms. "You're cutting them unevenly."A pause, and then he adjusts, just like that. The slices become even, clean, and precise.My breath catches before I can stop it, because that is how Shen used to do it.I turn away quickly, reach for the pan, and pretend I need to check the oil. The sound of the knife against the board continues behind me, steady, cont

Avelin POVVoss Corporation in the Break Room at 8:17 AMI am on my second cup of coffee when Renlo finds me.This is not surprising. Renlo has been finding me at the coffee machine every morning for the past week with the specific intentionality of someone who has decided that caffeine acquisition is excellent cover for conversations I am going to resist having. He appears in the doorway, already dressed like someone who belongs in a building this expensive, which he does, genuinely. Marketing suits him in a way that feels inevitable, and he looks at me with the expression I have been dreading since yesterday.Not angry. Not worried exactly.Just thorough.I have catalogued this expression over years of shared office floors, late nights, and conversations that neither of us planned to have. It is the expression he wears when he has already done the worrying on my behalf and arrived at the conversation carrying it all, neatly assembled, ready to set it down in front of me, whether I w

Avelin POVSunday mornings are different now. They are quieter inside my chest. It feels like something has decided to sit still.Leander is coming today. I do not say it loud. My body already knows. There is a pull under my skin. It is like a thread being gently tugged.Baby Shen feels it too.He wakes up earlier than usual. His small feet patter down the hallway before I am out of bed. He climbs onto the mattress without warning. He is warm and bright and full of energy."Papa's coming today," he announces.He says it as if it were an important fact in the world. My chest tightens slightly."Yes. He is," I say.Baby Shen nods seriously. He is confirming something. Then he presses his face into my shoulder. Holds on."Don't be sad," he says softly.I freeze."I'm not sad," I say.He pulls back enough to look at me. His small brows pull together in a way that looks much like Leander's."You are," he says. "It's okay. Papa will fix it."Something inside me cracks quietly. I do not answ