Because if René was paying attention…
Then someone else might be too.
I got home and found the building in mid-chaos—voices in the stairwell, someone laughing too loudly, music leaking from somewhere below.
Soup night.
Of course it was soup night.
I almost groaned.
My body wanted the comfort of it. The stairs. The wine. The sense of belonging without having to do anything.
My brain wanted the quiet.
I hesitated outside Alix’s door long enough to hear her say something sharp and affectionate through the wood.
Then I kept going.
In my apartment, I dropped my bag and stood still for a second, listening to the silence settle around me. Then I carried my groceries into the kitchen.
I should have called Dominic.
His voice note sat there—kind, patient, dangerous.
I picked up my phone.
My thumb hit his name—hard enough that it opened the call screen. The green button sat there like a dare. I stared at it until the screen dimmed and the phone decided for me.
Next, I opened my calendar.
A wall of color.
Green. Blue. Yellow.
Purple, still barely there, like a joke.
My throat tightened.
I closed the calendar.
Opened my camera files again.
Found the risky photo.
The one that didn’t belong.
The one that felt like breathing.
I stared at it until my eyes stung.
Then, without thinking too hard, I dragged it—along with two others that were too soft, too honest, too not what I’d been submitting lately—into a new folder.
Term Project:First Set
The name of the folder made my stomach twist.
Like I’d just admitted something.
