The silence that followed was almost holy. For the first time that morning, the world felt still. I slumped deeper into the couch, letting my body melt into the cushions until I could feel the fabric cooling against my skin. My head buzzed faintly, not just from exhaustion, but from the swirl of thoughts I’d been dodging ever since we got back from Kay’s place.
It felt like hours passed. The clock ticked faintly from the wall, the kind of quiet rhythm that made the house feel emptier than it really was. My mind drifted....back to the party, to Kay’s apology, to Isabella’s fake smiles, to the way she’d stared at him like she had every right to. I wanted to forget all of it, but it kept replaying like a bad song I couldn’t turn off.
Then came the sound......soft footsteps, padding across t
