Oh, don’t worry. I won’t make it a thingnow. I’ll just store it deep inside until it explodes later in a violent emotional meltdown. I stare anywhere but at him, the wall, the floor, a plant, the air, anything.
Suddenly it’s insanely hot in here. Heat-stroke hot.
I swear my anxiety is cooking me alive.
Eitherheleaves, or I do.
One of us has to go before I spontaneously combust.
Back home
I hold my phone to my ear, pacing around my room as I vent to Sophia.
"I'm telling you, Gio is insufferable. I want to leave already. Help me."
"Just don't talk to him. Seriously," she says, and instantly I feel like an idiot.
"...I am alreadynottalking to him. I'm just stating facts. He's just insufferable. That's all."
Sophia's response is dry. "Mhm."
That little, dismissive, bored-ass mhm.
Great. Now I'm the annoying boyfriend again. The one who talks too much, complains too much, overshadows her, whatever.
No. Nope, that's not fair.
I'm not taking the blame for everything today.
I pause, frowning. "Are you even listening?"
"Yeah," she replies, just as flat.
I wait for more, but she gives me nothing. I sigh.
"Whatever. I'll let you go. I have... stuff to do."
"Cool, talk to you later." She hangs up before I can even say bye. Unbelievable.
It's like she pressed end call with the energy of,please shut up, you're exhausting me.
As if I didn't already have enough going on, now I have to stress aboutwhatI say,howI say it,whenI say it, whether I'm too much, not enough, too dramatic, too quiet.
I stare at my screen for a second.
Truth? I have nothing to do.
Something's off with her. I'm sure of it.
I step outside onto the balcony. Daisy is curled up on the small couch near the plants, scrolling on her phone. Jin sits at the table nearby, eating an apple.
Daisy looks up as I sit beside her. "Wow. What's with the face?"
I exhale sharply.
"Guess who showed up at the meeting today?"
She doesn't even try. "Gio?"
