Chapter 19 Avoidance

• After that heartbreaking night, Celia could feel Alexander slipping further away with each passing day. The tension between them was no longer the playful, charged energy it had been before; now it was strained, cold, filled with words unsaid and glances carefully avoided.
• At breakfast, he arrived late and left early. Their once-comfortable routines—sharing coffee, exchanging small talk—had become painfully polite. Alexander rarely looked at her, and when he did, his gaze was carefully neutral, a studied blankness that drove Celia mad. She could see the effort he was putting into building that wall between them, and it felt like every brick he laid was cutting her off from him a little more.
• Determined to break through his defenses, Celia set her mind on creating moments where he’d have no choice but to acknowledge her. He couldn’t ignore her forever. She wouldn't let him. Her mind raced, trying to devise reasons to keep pulling him back, small excuses to force him to face the feelings he was so determined to bury.