Thadeus’s Point of View
“So… how are you?”
Frances was the one who finally broke the suffocating silence between us.
The coffee shop was warm, filled with the low hum of conversations, clinking cups, and the distant sound of mallgoers passing by. Yet at our table—tucked away at the far end—it felt cold. Heavy. Like the past had decided to sit with us uninvited.
As for Hara—I told her I needed to go somewhere briefly. I didn’t tell her where. I didn’t tell her why. I promised myself I would explain everything later, when my head was clearer.
If it ever would be.
Because truth be told, I never planned on talking to Frances today.
Not ever again.
But she insisted. She stopped me. She looked at me like I was the last familiar thing left in her world. She said she missed me.
A lie.
If
