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    Liam’s POV


    I sat at the edge of the bed-cold now, unfamiliar. My breath was ragged. Something inside me was missing. Something more than just her physical presence. Something I couldn’t name… but it felt like a gaping hole torn


    wide open in my chest.


    It felt… suffocating.


    As if the world had shrunk, and time hade to a halt. As if all sound had vanished-even Noah’s footsteps in


    the living room no longer reached my ears.


    For the first time in my life, I truly felt alone.


    My hand gripped the corner of the wrinkled bedsheet, as if hoping some trace of Sienna’s scent might still


    linger. But there was nothing. Only silence and regret.


    This room, which once held the fragments of our shared lives, had now be a silent witness to all the


    unspoken words, to wounds left unhealed for too long.


    I turned toward the empty side of the bed.


    The side where she used to lie, sometimes with her back to me in anger, other times staring in silence when we


    didn’t know what to say.


    I thought time would heal everything. I thought all we needed was to endure a little longer. But I was wrong. She


    left… and I didn’t stop her.


    I had been too caught up in being Liam the sessful man. Liam the stoic. Liam-the man everyone could rely


    on… everyone but the woman who lived under the same roof with me.


    Too blind to see how she loved me in silence. Too deaf to hear her whispered pleas. Too foolish to understand


    that love doesn’t alwayse with words.


    I walked slowly to the wardrobe. Opened one of the drawers that used to be hers.


    Empty. Even the blue scarf she always wore when she wasn’t feeling well was gone. I reached into the corner-


    nothing


    And in that instant, reality hit me hard.


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    Sienna had truly gone. No trace. No footsteps. No hope left behind.


    ? 50%


    I bowed my head, gripping the edges of the drawer, my jaw clenched against the storm of emotions inside me.


    I wanted to be angry-at anyone. At Sienna, for not holding on longer. At myself, for not noticing. At fate, for giving me love when I wasn’t ready to receive it.


    But most of all, I was angry at myself. Because deep down, I knew-she had given everything. I… I had just stood there, letting her surrender.


    My hands rose to my face, covering my eyes as they burned. I wasn’t crying. But maybe… if there was ever a


    night in my life to admit defeat, this was it.


    I had lost Sienna. I didn’t know if I’d ever have the chance to find her again.


    I clutched the note tightly in my fist, as if holding it tightly enough might somehow bring her back. But I knew… she was gone. There was nothing I could do to bring her home.


    Not even if I cried.


    Not even if I begged.


    Not even if I screamed my apology until my voice was gone.


    Because when a patient love finally gives up, there’s nothing that can save you from the loneliness you created


    yourself.


    I had lost something. Something irreceable. But I was too foolish to see it until it was toote.


    My steps were heavy as I walked out of the room. My chest was tight, my head clouded like fog rolling in. The folded note was still in my hand, clenched like a charm I believed could turn back time.


    My mother stood in the living room, her eyes nk, fixed on the dirty floor.


    She hadn’t said anything yet, but the look in her eyes told me-there was more.


    I walked toward her slowly.


    When I finally spoke, it came out like the whisper of a broken man.


    “Why did that contract even exist, Mom?” My voice trembled, almost like a child who just learned life isn’t fair.


    She looked at me-but stayed silent.


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    “Why… why did you just let her leave like that?” I asked again, louder now.


    My voice rising-not at her, but at everything.


    I stepped closer, gripping her arm in frustration.


    “Didn’t Sienna say anything? Didn’t she leave a message? Where is she now? Where is she living, Mom?!”


    No answer. Only silence, hanging heavy in the air like a cold, suffocating nket.


    I swung at the air beside me, a meaningless gesture-but just enough to release the storm inside.


    “Why did she leave just like that?! She didn’t fight! She didn’t stay! How could a mother just abandon her child


    like that?! Is that what a mother does?!”


    And then, suddenly. The sound of a p cut through the room like thunder.


    I froze. The world stopped spinning for a heartbeat. My fists clenched-not in anger, but in shame.


    My mother looked at me, her eyes wet but her voice cold, echoing deep into the part of my soul I had been too


    proud to confront.


    “You want to know why she left?” Her voice trembled, but every word hit with force.


    “Because she stayed silent for too long.


    Because she held on in a house that never saw her. Because she endured pain you never even noticed you


    caused.”


    I wanted to protest. To defend myself. But I was speechless.


    “Sienna left because she finally realized… there was nothing left here worth saving.


    Not even you.”


    Before I could say another word, I heard crying from the hallway.


    I turned.


    Noah stood there-his eyes red and swollen, clutching his favorite red robot to his chest.


    “Where’s Mommy?” he asked softly, his voice as light as falling feathers, disappearing into the chaos.


    11:13 AM Tue 2 Sep