Emma couldn’t remember the last time she felt warm, or if she ever truly had. The days since that moment with Alexander had blurred into a haze of coldness, the icy walls she had built around herself growing thicker with every passing minute. She had felt everything unravel in the most excruciating way, and now, all she could do was keep herself guarded, shut off from the world, from Alexander, and from the vulnerability that had once made her love so deeply.
She had become someone else. A version of herself that was harder, colder, and, most of all, distant.
When she walked into the café where she had agreed to meet her friends, her eyes scanned the room with practiced indifference. Her smile, when it appeared, was thin and fleeting. She didn’t care anymore. Not about the laughter, not
