Maria:
I don’t know how long I stay like that.
Phone in my hand. Screen dimming, lighting up, dimming again.
The photo doesn’t change.
I do.
A little.
I zoom in again, slower this time. Like I might catch something I missed earlier if I don’t rush it.
I don’t.
He’s still there.
Slightly behind everyone. Not trying to be seen. Not part of the noise.
Just—
looking at me.
Not in passing.
Not by accident.
I shift, pulling my knees closer, pressing my chin against them.
“That’s not real,” I say, quiet enough that it almost doesn’t count.
But it is.
Lily’s messages sit under it like evidence I didn’t ask for.
He wasn’t pretending back then.
I press my lips together.
Then the next one.
And if this keeps going… it’s going to be very hard for him to pretend now.
I lock my phon
