I checked the watch on my wrist several times. It was already three in the morning, yet Viel still hadn’t come home. He wasn’t answering any of my calls either. Even his parents and friends couldn’t reach him.
With every passing minute, my chest tightened. It felt as though each tick of the clock made the anxiety lodged in my throat heavier and harder to swallow. I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering to all kinds of possibilities, things I didn’t want to imagine, yet they forced their way into my thoughts anyway.
I drew in a deep breath and squeezed my eyes shut. “Viel, please be safe,” I whispered, my voice so faint I could barely hear it myself.
But how was I supposed to sleep when it felt like something terrible had happened to him?
I could no longer sit still in my room, so I step
