The days after my conversation with Kennan dragged on, stretched thin and unbearable, each one slipping by in a haze of emptiness. Every time I walked past our usual spots at the university, the coffee shop where we used to share awkward silences and shy glances or the lecture hall where our banter had once flourished. I felt an ache deep in my chest. The absence of him was a gnawing, ever-present reminder of what I had lost. I missed him. Even though he had hurt me, the memory of his smile, the way his eyes lit up when he laughed, haunted me. The lingering warmth of his presence still had a hold on me, one I couldn’t shake off, no matter how hard I tried.
It didn’t help that everything around me seemed to remind me of him. Every corner I turned, every familiar place I visited, his absenc
