Emily
Staying the night.
The words echoed in my head long after Adrian had said them, long after my father’s voice had come through the phone giving his calm, unquestioning approval.
It felt like crossing a line.
Not because I didn’t want to be with Adrian—if I was honest with myself, that part was frighteningly easy—but because staying the night carried weight. Meaning. Implications I wasn’t sure I was ready to unpack.
Even with my father’s consent, even with Adrian standing there looking so unbothered, so certain, it still felt… strange.
I told myself it was just habit. Years of conditioning. The quiet rules drilled into me without ever being spoken aloud. A proper daughter didn’t stay the night at a man’s house. A fiancée—especially one engaged to another man—definitely didn’t.
Y
