The morning light spilled through frost-covered windows, casting the apartment in a soft, silvery glow. Outside, the city lay quiet beneath a fresh snowfall, the streets sparkling under the delicate layer of ice and frost. Inside, Liam and Emma moved through the apartment in the delicate rhythm of shared life, yet the tension from the previous day still lingered in the air like a faint shadow. Emma had spent the night replaying the conversation with her old professional contact. Nothing had happened—she had been entirely professional—but the unease in Liam’s eyes had unsettled her far more than she expected. She worried that the day’s events had planted seeds of doubt in his heart, and she didn’t want to see those seeds grow. Liam, on the other hand, was wrestling with feelings he couldn

