Chapter 52 Aria

• I place my hand over his, pressing it against my face as if that gesture could anchor me in the present, keep me from drowning in the emotions consuming me. The tears fall slowly, one by one, and I feel the weight of everything we’ve lost, of everything that could have been.
• “Then why did you leave?” My voice trembles, fragile like glass about to shatter, as the question escapes my lips, carrying with it all the anguish accumulated over the years. “I went back to your apartment some time later, to talk…” My words falter for a moment, the intense pain cutting through the air between us. “And you were just… gone.” My tone is accusatory but also pleading, as if begging for an explanation could lighten the burden I’ve been carrying.
• When I found out I was pregnant, the first person I wanted to tell was Alexander. It never crossed my mind back then that the child could belong to anyone else.