Again.
My stomach drops.
My fingers hover above the phone.
My breath shakes.
He wouldn’t?—
Not after that voicemail.
Not this soon.
Except—
He would.
I swallow hard.
The phone keeps vibrating.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
I don’t answer.
I can’t.
I stand there frozen, trembling, watching it ring like it’s about to explode.
It stops.
The silence that follows is louder than the ringing.
A single new notification blooms across the screen.
1 New Voicemail.
My throat tightens painfully.
My fingers dig into the edge of the counter.
I don’t press play.
Not yet.
I just stand there, shaking, breath shallow, heart pounding so violently it hurts.
Because I know—I know whatever Kai just left me isn’t an answer.
It’s a beginning.
And I’m not ready.
But he doesn’t care if I’m ready.
