Until I Wrote Him
Before Roman.
The attendant guides me down another hall, to a lounge where music hums like low conversation.
The space is warm, all amber light and steam.
There are three women lounging on white chaises, sipping something that looks far more luxurious than green tea.
I pause, not out of shyness, but recognition.
At the center sits Operah Mendez, the journalist who once roasted a senator so thoroughly it trended for a week.
She’s in her forties, her silver-streaked curls pinned back, and she radiates self-possession — the kind that can silence a room without raising a voice.