Sophia dressed slowly that morning, moving around the small bedroom with a quiet calm that didn’t match the heaviness in her chest. She folded her work clothes neatly into her bag. She zipped the bag shut, checked the time, it was barely past ten.
She still had over six hours before her shift at Club Mirage.
Normally she would’ve stayed in, cleaned a little, maybe watched something on her phone until it was time to leave. But not today. The apartment felt tense after everything that happened earlier, the argument with Jasmine, the uncomfortable tension still clinging to the air.
Sophia needed space.
She grabbed her bag, locked the door quietly, and stepped out into the bright New York morning.
The public library wasn’t far, just two blocks from their apartment. A tall, older building
