Ayla
Yuna was the one who cried first after I told her everything.
We were standing in front of the campus café, the winter air biting straight through our coats, when her shoulders suddenly started shaking. She covered her mouth with one hand, her eyes reddening way too fast for it to be just exhaustion or stress.
It took me a few seconds to realize it.
She wasn’t crying for herself.
She was crying for me.
“Oh my God…” her voice cracked. “I knew it. I knew something was wrong.”
I tried to smile. I really did. I took a deep breath and lifted my chin, just like I’d trained myself to do ever since things ended with River.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I swear.”
Yuna shook her head and pulled me into a tight hug. The guilt in her expression was what finally broke me.
“You don’t have to be st
