Chapter 51

• By the time the sunlight had fully reached the floors of the boutique, I could feel the pressure of the day beginning to settle against my chest like a weight I had already agreed to carry. Not because I wanted to, but because it was mine. It belonged to me in a way that was no longer avoidable.
• The article had shifted something. Not just outside, not just in the public conversation, but inside us. Inside me. It was no longer about silence or waiting or reacting. There was a current now, moving under our feet, and I knew that if I didn’t walk forward with it, it would drag me instead.
• Julian had gone back to his office just after we returned from the courtyard. He hadn’t said much beyond that quiet promise. The kind that does not beg for answers. The kind that leaves room for breath.