RUN FROM ME

CHAPTER SEVEN_THE WAY QUIET FEELS DIFFERENT

CHAPTER SEVEN — THE WAY QUIET FEELS DIFFERENT

SERA

I started noticing that silence in Alessandro’s house didn’t feel the same anymore.

At first, it used to feel heavy… like it was watching me, waiting for me to make a mistake, waiting for me to realize I didn’t belong there.

But slowly, something changed.

Or maybe I changed.

Because now, sometimes, the silence felt… familiar.

Like it had learned my presence.

I found myself in the kitchen earlier than usual that morning. One of the staff members had already placed breakfast on the table the way they always did now — warm tea, soft bread, fruit I didn’t even remember mentioning liking.

I stared at it for a moment longer than necessary.

They were remembering things I said in passing.

Or someone was.

And I already knew who.

Footsteps came in behind me.

I didn’t turn immediately.

“You’re awake early,” Alessandro said.

His voice wasn’t sharp.

It never really was anymore.

It just existed.

Calm. Controlled. Close enough that I didn’t always notice when he entered a room now.

“I didn’t sleep well,” I admitted quietly.

A pause.

Then he stepped closer, but not too close.

That was something I had started noticing too.

He never stood too far anymore… but never close enough to feel like he was trapping me.

It was deliberate.

“I’ll tell them to stop bringing tea so early,” he said.

I turned quickly. “No—don’t.”

His gaze lifted slightly.

I hesitated.

“I mean… it’s fine. It’s just… I’m not used to people adjusting everything for me.”

Something shifted in his expression for half a second.

Not anger.

Not softness either.

Just… attention.

Like he was trying to understand something he didn’t have a name for.

“You’re used to being ignored,” he said quietly.

That wasn’t a question.

I didn’t answer immediately.

Because it was too accurate.

And I didn’t like that he could read me so easily.

That evening, I found myself walking through the estate garden alone.

No one stopped me anymore.

That was another thing I noticed.

At first, there were always guards nearby.

Now… they gave me space.

Not freedom.

Space.

There was a difference.

The fountain was quiet, the water reflecting soft light from the estate walls. I sat on the stone edge slowly, pulling my sweater tighter around me.

I heard footsteps before I saw him.

Alessandro.

Of course.

He stopped a few steps away instead of sitting beside me immediately.

“You walk too far alone,” he said.

I sighed softly. “I’m inside your walls. How dangerous can it be?”

A pause.

“You’d be surprised.”

I looked up at him.

That was the first time I noticed something different about his expression.

Less controlled.

Not weak.

Just… tired in a way he didn’t show openly.

“You always say things like that,” I murmured.

“Because it’s true.”

I studied him for a moment longer than I meant to.

“You don’t trust anything,” I said quietly.

His gaze held mine.

“Not everything deserves trust.”

“But I do?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Silence.

Longer than usual.

Then—

“Yes.”

That single word shouldn’t have affected me.

But it did.

Because it didn’t sound like control.

It sounded like certainty.

And I didn’t know what to do with that.