RUSLAN
I thought seeing her at the bottom of those stairs was bad.
I was wrong.
Watching her fall apart is worse.
Especially because she doesn’t fall apart like she needs to. All messy tears and furious denials and angry conversations with God. No—she recedes into herself as though she’s ashamed of her pain.
She barely meets my eyes. She barely smiles and sleepwalks through every conversation.
I understand why. She needs to put on a brave face for the kids. But every time she has to pretend like she’s okay, I know how much it’s costing her.
Which is probably why she kicked me out right after we returned from the park outing. “I’m fine. I just need rest, Ruslan. I’m fine. I’m fine.”
She repeated those two cursed f*****g words way too many times for me to believe them.
Now, I’ve som
