For a moment, neither of them moved.
The world seemed frozen.
Silent.
Suspended somewhere between reality and a dream.
Ava stared at Noah.
Noah stared at her.
The words still lingered in the air.
I love you.
I love you too.
Months of fear.
Months of denial.
Months of pretending.
Gone.
Just like that.
The confession should have changed everything.
And somehow it changed nothing at all.
Because the feelings had already existed.
The only difference was that now they were real.
Spoken.
Impossible to take back.
Ava's heart pounded violently inside her chest.
Part of her expected panic.
Expected guilt.
Expected the sky to fall apart.
Instead, she felt relief.
Beautiful relief.
The kind that came after carrying something heavy for far too long.
Noah laughed softly.
A n
