Chapter 117 Hundred And Seventeen

• ARIEL’S POV
• I was tired today, and not just the simple kind of tired where a shower could fix it. It was the kind that crawled into my bones, the kind that made every step feel heavier than it should. Work had been brutal, one task dragging into the next with no space to breathe, but even through that exhaustion I refused to call Ryan to pick me up. I could’ve. I knew he’d have dropped everything just to get me, but the thought made something inside me twist. I didn’t want him treating me like glass. I didn’t want him sending his guards again like I was some fragile Luna who couldn’t even get herself home. I loved him … hell, I adored him but I hated how easily he took everything out of my hands. I used to be able to do things, handle things. Now even small pieces of my day felt stolen.
• The house was proof of that. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d done anything in it that mattered. Cooking? Gone. Cleaning? Gone. Arranging things? Gone. Every corner already smelled of someone else’s effort. Every shelf lined by someone else’s hand. Even opening the fridge didn’t feel like opening my fridge anymore; it felt like opening a display.