?Chapter 1688:


    “Why?” The single word escaped Eric like a wounded plea, his heart plummeting into his stomach. “Have you grown to despise mepletely?”


    Some deeper truth lurked beneath her silence—he could feel it gnawing at the edges of his understanding.


    “You exhibited this same behavior previously,” he began, memories surfacing with painful rity. “During those early days, you would also…”


    Before he couldplete the thought, Hadley lifted her arm with mechanical precision, gesturing toward their shared bed.


    “Three options present themselves,” she announced with clinical detachment. “We divide the bed with separate nkets, I relocate to the sofa, or you return to your quarters.” Her gaze met Eric’s with unwavering resolve. “Select your preference.”


    Her ultimatum struck him speechless. Eric was at a loss for words; each option represented a devastating rejection of the intimacy they had once shared. Yet, confronted with her imcable stare, resistance crumbled.


    “Very well,” he conceded with quiet defeat. “Separate nkets it shall be.”


    “eptable.” Hadley acknowledged his capittion with a curt nod, then sidestepped his proximity entirely, approaching the bed with purposeful efficiency before drawing back the coverlet and settling beneath it.


    Without another syble, she sealed her eyes shut, dismissing him as effectively as if he had ceased to exist.


    Eric remained paralyzed for several heartbeats before finally joining her on the mattress, upying the allocated territory with careful precision. He positioned himself facing her profile, while she presented him with the rigid line of her spine.


    The gulf separating their bodies could have amodated an entire additional upant—a chasm that spoke volumes about their fractured connection.


    “Hadley,” he ventured after minutes of internal warfare, his voice barely disturbing the oppressive silence. “Have you already drifted off?”


    Hadley beside him maintained her statuesque stillness, granting him nothing but the sound of her measured breathing.<fn670f> ???s ??????? ?s ?????? ?? f?ndnovel</fn670f>


    More stories at g??lnov???????????m


    Following an eternity of unanswered longing, Eric released a barely audible exhale. “I’ll respect your peace, then. May your dreams be gentle.”


    Yet sleep eluded him entirely, his mind churning with questions that demanded answers she refused to provide.


    Dawn crept through the curtains, finding Eric stirring from a fitful slumber. His gaze immediately sought the figure beside him. Hadley remained exactly as she had positioned herself hours earlier, as though sleep had transformed her into marble.


    Her breathing suggested she was still asleep, though something about her stillness felt deliberately maintained. Unwilling to risk shattering whatever fragile peace she had found, Eric extracted himself from the bed with painstaking stealth and left their shared sanctuary.


    The moment thetch clicked into ce, Hadley’s eyes snapped open, revealing crystalline alertness that betrayed hours of wakeful vignce. Yet, she remained prostrate, unwilling to abandon the safety of horizontal solitude. Only after calcting sufficient time for Eric’s departure did she finally rouse herself with deliberatenguor.


    Following her morning routine, she ventured to Joy’s room, discovering the child still immersed in blissful slumber.


    .


    .


    .