Sonia’s POV
Morning came slow, pale, and undecided, like the sky couldn’t quite make up its mind between light and shadow. The rain from last night had left the world muted, washed clean but still trembling with memory. Drops clung to the balcony rail like tiny shards of glass, catching the hesitant sunlight that crept through my curtains.
I lay there for a long time before moving, the scent of rain and lavender soap still clinging to my sheets. Sleep hadn’t come easily. Even after our dinner last night, something about Alexander’s quietness lingered in my mind. He’d smiled when I teased him, laughed when Clara made one of her jokes, but his eyes, his eyes had been somewhere else.
He’d left early that morning, long before breakfast, saying there was a “meeting” he couldn’t miss. I’d bar
