But he didn’t catch me when I fell.
The second he stopped the car, he reached for me, but I left. I unbuckled my seatbelt, pushed open the door, not bothering to slam it, and ran up the steps to the house. I was halfway to freedom when I heard his door slam, and his footsteps follow.
“Cora.” He called. “Cora, wait.”
“I don’t want to wait,” I muttered, knowing he heard it.
His shadow stretched into my peripheral as I fumbled for my keys, fingers trembling too much to latch onto anything solid.
“Please, can we just talk—”
I spun around to face him, words sharp on my tongue. “There’s really nothing to talk about. Okay?”
I turned to leave, but he reached for me, gently, catching my wrist with just enough force to stop me, never enough to scare me.
And it was so strange, the way he could do that. How he could touch me like that and somehow still make me feel safe. Maybe because he never meant it to hurt. Every part of his hold was warm. Steady. Reassuring.
I looked up at him—and God, the way he was breathing, like just being near me knocked the air from his lungs.
And this man had the audacity to wonder why I’d fallen in love with him?
“You don’t get it,” he said, voice low and tight. “It’s not… I can’t…”
His face twisted like he was about to break. And somehow, that was worse. Because a part of me—against all logic—still wanted to wait for him.
Just another minute. Just one more second.
He sucked in a breath, but no words came. Just silence. And staring. And more silence.
Until I realised—
Maybe his words were never going tocome.
So I took the lead. Again.
“Do you love me?” I asked, stepping closer, standing directly beneath him, falling into the storm of his eyes. I shrugged, barely holding myself together. “Yes or no?”
His head shook. “It’s not that simple.”
“It is,” I said, voice breaking. “It is, if you want it to be.”
The night breeze slipped past us, cool against my burning cheeks, brushing my hair off my neck. And the seconds that followed? They felt like whole lifetimes, dragging and stretching as I waited for something that wasn’t coming.
“Yes or no?” I whispered—barely a breath.
But I already knew. I knew from the way he looked at me, like I was a wound he didn’t know how to heal. Like he was already mourning something he couldn’t give me.
And still, the truth knocked the breath out of me.
I nodded, just once, and the motion cracked something open inside me. A tear slipped free.
I stepped back. Out of his grasp. Out of his reach.
His head shook, his lip trembling. “Cora…”
My own voice shook. “It’s fine.” I reached for the keys again, even though nothing felt fine. “I’ll be fine.”
I jammed the key into the lock with shaking hands, but before I could turn it, he tried again.
