"Luke…" I whispered, my voice muffled by his shirt, laden with emotions too tangled to name. The weight of his devotion, intertwined with my deceit, was suffocating. I needed space. I needed to breathe. I needed to be alone to grapple with the contradiction threatening to tear me apart. A little later, using the excuse of needing fresh air, I gently extricated myself from Luke"s hold. Ignoring their protests, I left the hospital, my steps unsteady but determined, heading towards the forest—the one place that had always offered my soul a measure of peace. I just wanted to be alone. However, I failed to notice the figure watching me from a shadowed corner as I left the hospital grounds. It was Tabitha. Her eyes tracked my solitary figure heading toward the woods, and a calculating gleam flic
