Kaelen
As I stepped through the door that night, the weight of the day clung to me like a heavy fog. The office had been busy as usual, but it wasn’t just the work that exhausted me—it was the constant gnawing in the back of my mind, the pressure of the lie I was living. Lucas’s words from earlier kept replaying in my head, over and over, like a broken record: “You can’t keep pretending, man. Alara deserves to know what’s really going on.”
The house was dimly lit, with only the soft glow of the lamp in the living room casting shadows against the walls. As I walked through the hallway and into the bedroom, I saw Alara lying on the bed, her figure barely visible under the covers. She looked peaceful, her hair splayed across the pillow, and for a brief moment, I felt a pang of guilt.
I had
