The hallways felt endless, my footsteps echoing off the marble floors, each step heavy with the weight of what had just happened.
I could still feel Ciara's eyes on me, burning into my back, that desperate look of hers replaying over and over in my mind. Her words, too, lingered like an echo that wouldn't fade "I care about you… I need you."
Why did she have to say that? Why now? Why not before… before everything became so damn complicated? I could feel a knot tightening in my chest, a blend of frustration and a painful yearning I didn't want to acknowledge.
My feet carried me without thought, and before I realized it, I was outside, feeling the cool breeze on my face. I breathed it in deeply, hoping it would clear my mind, but it only seemed to sharpen the chaos whirling inside me.
I kept replaying the scene over and over the way her hand had hovered in the air between us, the way her voice had cracked, raw and sincere.