Sonia’s POV
For weeks, my heart had been a battlefield. I couldn’t deny what Alexander had done for me, the way he had stood up for me at school, his sharp words against the students who mocked me, his unshakable presence whenever I thought I was utterly alone. And yet, the walls I had built around myself after my parents’ death were still high, still unyielding.
There were nights when I lay awake staring at the ceiling of the guest room in the Lim household, the flickering shadows of the curtains brushing against the walls, wondering why it was so easy for my heart to race at the thought of him. And then I would remember his coldness from before, the sharp sting of overheard words, the rejection that had cut me so deeply I thought I would never breathe again.
And so, every time he came
