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    Liam’s POV


    The office was silent, only the ticking of the clockpeting with the sound of my own heartbeat. The sunlight, which should’ve felt warm, only added another weight on my back-burning my skin and tightening my chest. I sat in my work chair, documents open on theptop screen, but the words no longer registered. I stared without truly seeing.


    I’d been here for two hours. Two hours sitting in silence, doing nothing.


    Since when did I be like this?


    My hand clenched on the table. It felt like there was a gaping hole in my chest-empty but full of pressure that couldn’t be exined. I tried to take a deep breath, but my chest was too tight. As if each inhale only filled half my lungs, the rest blocked by


    something invisible-regret, perhaps.


    My thoughts went back to that night. The night Sienna looked at me-not with anger, but with a terrifying calmness. Like


    someone who had finally stopped hoping.


    It wasn’t a look of hate. Nor disappointment.


    It was… eptance.


    And for some reason I couldn’t understand, that hurt even more.


    I know I’mte. God, I know.


    All the things I thought I could postpone are now mocking me,ughing loudly in my head. Promises I never said, apologies I never thought were important, and the habit of putting herst in my life-they all came back to p me this morning.


    Sienna once said, “I don’t need you to be perfect. I just want to know that I’m enough.”


    1


    I… said nothing. I didn’t answer. Because at that time, I was too busy being important to everyone else.1


    Everyone but her.


    Not to the only person who ever saw me unconditionally.


    I lowered my head, pressing my forehead into my fingers tangled in my hair. There was a trembling in my chest-between the urge to cry and the urge to punch the wall until everything stopped hurting. But I did neither.


    I just stayed still.


    Her image still flooded my mind. The way sheughed softly when she steeped her tea too long. How she furrowed her brows


    when staring at her phone, then grumbled about a small typo in a photo caption. Trivial things I once thought were meaningless now haunted the empty space in this room like ghosts.


    I miss her.


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    More than that, I’m angry at myself for not missing her sooner.


    Theptop screen was still glowing, disying the tender document I should’ve studied since morning. But the letters blurred in my vision. My focus had narrowed to one thing: I had lost someone… who might never return.


    Emily knocked before entering. She didn’t wait for my response. She just appeared in the doorway with a face I knew too well- confused, annoyed, but trying to stay calm.


    “You haven’t eaten lunch,” she said. Her voice was t, neutral. Too neutral.


    I only nodded. “Not hungry.”


    She sighed, folding her arms. “Are you going to keep being like this, Liam?”


    I lifted my head and looked into her eyes. But I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t know what to say.


    “It’s been a week you’ve been like this. Silent. Cold. Like… your body’s here but your mind’s somewhere else.” Her voice cracked slightly at the end. “I’m not stupid, Liam. I know this is about Sienna.”


    I bit my lower lip, trying to stop any reaction from spilling out of my mouth. That name-Sienna-hung in the air like smoke from a fire, stinging my eyes. I took a breath, lowered my gaze, and leaned back into the sofa.


    “It’s not just about Sienna,” I finally said, softly. “It’s about me. About us. About everything we never really talked about.”


    Emily stared at me for a long time. Her eyes narrowed, but not out of anger-more like she was trying to understand, or maybe read the meaning behind my murky words. “We’ve talked about a lot, Liam. We even tried starting over, remember?”


    I nodded. “Yes. We tried. But I’m not sure my heart truly tried.”


    That sentence was like a sledgehammer mming into the thin wall between us. Emily blinked slowly, then let out a long sigh. She


    stepped into the room, closed the door, and sat across from me. “So what are you trying to say now? That this is all a mistake?


    That you want to give up?”


    “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “All I know is… every day I wake up feeling empty. And every night I go to sleep hoping


    tomorrow will be different, but it never is.”


    2


    Emily lowered her head. Her jaw tightened. Her hands clenched on herp. But when she spoke, her voice was soft. Too soft.


    “Then who am I to you now, Liam? Just a stopover?”


    “Don’t say that…”


    “But you don’t even look at me anymore. You don’t talk. Don’t touch. Don’t share. Do you even realize how long it’s been since we


    genuinelyughed together?” Her eyes glistened. “Do you realize how lonely I feel next to you?”


    My heart felt pulled in two directions. Guilt and confusion, crashing into each other. I wanted to say I still cared. But was that true? Or was I just afraid of losing something that once meant something, even if it felt different now?


    “I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I know this isn’t your fault. And I know… you deserve more than this.”


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    Emily chuckled quietly, bitterly. “I don’t need an apology, Liam. I need certainty. I need to know if you’re still willing to fight for


    this or not.”


    I went silent. Because I couldn’t promise something I wasn’t sure of.


    Then her voice came again. Quiet, but firm.


    “If you still love her… at least be honest with me.”


    The name stabbed me. Sienna. Ever since she returned, everything seemed to change. I changed. I couldn’t even lie to myself anymore. Her presence touched a part of me that had long been dead. But along with it, old wounds reopened.


    “I’m just tired,” I finally answered. The safest answer. The most cowardly.


    Emily stepped closer, standing in front of me.


    “Liam… I love you. But I’m not made of stone. I can feel it when you pull away. I can tell when your eyes go nk every time you


    look at me. I know you’re trying to stay because you think you have to, but… I’m not your home, am I?”


    Her words made my stomach turn. Guilt surged through my chest. But I stayed silent.


    “Answer me.” Emily lowered her head, her voice barely a whisper.


    “You still love her, don’t you?”


    I took a deep breath. And I didn’t deny it.


    “I don’t know, Emily,” my voice cracked. “I don’t even know what I’m feeling right now. I feel empty. I feel… hollow every time


    Noah looks at me like I’m a thief. Every night he calls out for his mother in his sleep. And me… I just stand there, not knowing


    what to do.”


    GET IT N…


    11:19 AM Tue 2 Sep