Until I walked to the kitchen and found Cristian perched on the counter, poking Alexa with a fork.
“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded, clutching my stack of neon sticky notes.
He didn’t flinch. “You must truly love fruits,” he said, studying me. “You seem to frequently wear their image upon your person.”
I glanced down. Watermelons today, lemons yesterday. Right. “Focus, Dracula. Why are you stabbing my smart speaker?”
He tilted his head. “I am attempting to release the witch trapped inside this black cylinder.”
“You’rewhat?”
He gestured calmly to Alexa. “You should not leave a trapped witch unsupervised.”
He said it so seriously I almost admired the commitment. Almost.
Then Alexa’s blue ring light pulsed.
Cristian tensed, eyes sharpening. “It speaks again.”
“Oh my god.” I rubbed my temple and grabbed the fork out of his hand.
His gaze flicked from Alexa to me—and stopped. His brow furrowed. “Your midsection is uncovered. Were you attacked?”
I froze. “What?”
He gestured vaguely toward the cut-out in my dress. “Your garment is incomplete.”
“It’s fashion.”
He muttered, perfectly deadpan, “Then fashion has lost its shame.”
I pointed the fork at him. “Get off the counter before I losemine.”
He did not move. So, I ignored him, slapping another sticky note onto the cabinet door.
He watched. “What are you doing?”
“Placing quotes from my therapist around the house.”
“For what purpose?”
“For myinnerhealing. And anxiety management.”
He blinked, as if I’d spoken in Latin again, though he would probably understand that better than modern English.
“And a therapist is?—?”
“Someone trained in the art and science of inner healing.”
“Ah… right.”
I peeled another sticky note, smoothed it onto the fridge, and said quietly, “When you feel the urge to shrink, that’s a cue, not a command.”
He frowned. “The witch in the cylinder tries to shrink you?”
I rolled my eyes. “No.Lifedoes. People suck sometimes.”
It was strange how fast it came back. The tension. The pressure to perform. The fear of being too much or taking up the wrong amount of space.
