I left the garden in a daze, my heart pounding violently against my chest like a drum signaling an incoming storm. Tears stung my eyes, and I didn’t bother wiping them as they streamed down my cheeks. By the time I reached my room, I could barely breathe. I collapsed onto my bed, hugging myself tightly as if that would somehow hold together the pieces of my breaking heart.
The emotions crashing through me were too many, too fast — regret, guilt, confusion, and above all, pain. Pain from hearing Valentina’s words. Pain from knowing how much Damien had changed. Pain from remembering how much he had hurt me in the past. And now, the worst of it all — pain from realizing a part of me still cared.
Why? Why did I have to feel like this?
I sobbed into my pillow until it soaked through, my body
