A week passed, and Alex never called.No texts. No driver waiting by the curb. No commands disguised as kindness.
The silence should’ve been a relief, and in a way, it was. Jessica slept better. Ate better. Even laughed once or twice with Bea over late-night noodles. But sometimes, in the middle of a quiet morning, she caught herself checking her phone for a message that wasn’t there. It annoyed her how disappointment still managed to sneak in.
She sighed, staring at the three new sets of uniforms hanging neatly in her closet. The ones he’d told her to buy. Crisp, white, spotless, a luxury she’d never allowed herself before. They looked too clean for the life she actually lived.
By Monday, CEU buzzed with the kind of chaos that meant midterms were creeping close and the Sportsfest was ju
