Kaya's POV
The ride home was quiet, but the weight in my chest had started to lift. The hospital’s sterile walls were behind us, and though the doctor’s words still echoed in my ears—bed rest for a month—I felt a strange calm settling in. I wasn’t sure if it was the medicine, the exhaustion, or just having Frey, Josh, and Blake beside me, but I was finally beginning to breathe without feeling like I was suffocating.
As we walked through the front door of Frey and Josh’s cozy apartment, the familiar scent of vanilla candles hit me, welcoming me back. I had been staying with them for a while now, and despite the tumult of the past few days, their home had become my safe haven. I was so grateful to have friends like them, and of course, Blake—who had somehow become my rock during all of thi
