I woke up with a pounding headache and an even heavier heart. Sleep had done nothing to clear the storm clouding my mind. If anything, the restless hours had only intensified the emotions swirling inside me—confusion, frustration, anger, and something else I didn’t want to name.
I needed to talk to him. Clear the air. Stop whatever game he thought we were playing.
But every time I imagined confronting him, his piercing gaze, the way his lips curved when he thought he had me figured out, I faltered. What was I supposed to say? That he was driving me insane? That I didn’t understand why he was always there, lingering, like some shadow I couldn’t escape?
I tried to go about my morning routine as if everything was normal. Coffee. A quick breakfast. A futile attempt to read a book. But by th
