Lahat ng Kabanata ng DESIRE UNDER THE SAME ROOF : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 4

The cardboard boxes stacked in the corner of my room felt like coffins. Each one held a piece of the life I wasn’t ready to bury.​I shoved a stack of folded sweaters into a suitcase, my movements jagged and numb. It had been exactly one hundred and eighty-four days since my father’s funeral. Six months. To some, it was half a year of "healing." To my mother, it was apparently just enough time to find a replacement with a bigger bank account and a mansion across the city.​I picked up a framed photo from my nightstand—the last one taken of my dad and me at the lake. He was laughing, his eyes crinkling at the corners. My chest tightened, that familiar, sharp ache blooming behind my ribs.​The door to my bedroom clicked open without a knock.​"Summer, for heaven's sake, you aren't even finished?"Celine stepped into the room, smelling of expensive Peonies.She looked radiant... too radiant for a woman who had been a widow only two seasons ago. Her blouse was draped perfectly, and the di

The weekend had been a haunting exercise in avoidance. I had moved around the Knight mansion like a ghost, slipping into the kitchen for coffee only when I was sure the hallways were clear. Xavier had vanished—no smoke trails, no heavy boots, no dark stares. It was as if the house itself was holding its breath after the explosion at dinner.​But Monday morning arrived with the cold reality of a new life.​I sat in the back of a silver Mercedes, the leather seats cool against my bare legs. William had insisted on the driver—a silent man named Arthur—despite my protests that I could take the bus. To William, image was everything. To me, being dropped off in a car that cost more than a suburban house was like wearing a neon sign that read Outsider.​As we pulled through the ivy-covered gates of Evermore University, my stomach did a slow, nauseating flip. The campus was a stunning collection of red-brick buildings and manicured quads, looking every bit like the elite institution it was.​