Chapter Thirty
I didn’t act on it right away.
That realization—that I might be the reason it was here, that this connection wasn’t one-sided—it sat inside me, heavy and sharp, like something fragile I wasn’t ready to touch yet.
Because if I was wrong…
Then pushing back could make things worse.
But if I was right—
Then everything could change.
I stood there in the quiet, my breathing slow, measured, like I was afraid even that could shift something.
“You haven’t said anything,” I murmured.
And for a moment—
nothing.
Then, softer than before—
You are thinking too much.
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
But because that was new.
Before, it had encouraged that stillness, that surrender.
Now?
It wanted me to stop thinking.
And that alone told me I was getting closer
