I sat there on the floor long after Ram left, my hands still trembling, my chest hollow with humiliation. The weight of his words pressed down on me, suffocating, burning into my skin like an unforgivable brand.
Stay away from Charlie. Stay away from me.
I had begged. I had lowered myself, laid my pride at his feet, and he had still looked at me like I was nothing. Less than nothing.
I wiped at my face, smearing the remnants of my tears, but my shame wouldn’t disappear so easily. My whole body ached with the force of my humiliation. Ram had rejected me, discarded me as if I were a piece of trash. The pain of it should have broken me, but instead, something sharper, something darker bloomed inside me.
Fine. If he wanted to treat me like I was nothing, then I would become his worst night
