Reality hit hard the following week.
The news of the canceled wedding and my very public run to John had spread like wildfire through our social circles. My phone was filled with missed calls from my mother, disappointed texts from friends, and one particularly painful 😣 voicemail from Leo’s sister calling me heartless. The guilt returned in waves, but John was always there. His touch pulling me back to the present.
One evening, after a particularly brutal conversation with my father, I came home to John’s apartment emotionally drained. He took one look at my tear-streaked face and pulled me into his arms without a word.
His hands were everywhere at once... gentle but insistent. He peeled off my clothes slowly, kissing every inch of exposed skin as if he could kiss away the pain. When I
