I hugged the box against my chest, as if holding it close would make it hurt less, but it didn’t. It just made the ache sharper.
I bit my lip, trying to muffle the sound, but it escaped anyway, a broken sob that cracked through the silence of the hallway.
My shoulders shook. My knees felt weak.
I wanted to knock again. To ask why.
To ask if it was me, or something I did, or if the friendship I thought we built was just another cruel, temporary thing.
But I didn’t.
Because when someone looks at you like that, like you’re a mistake they regret, you don’t beg for reasons. You just break quietly and walk away before they hear it.
So I stood there for a long time, crying softly into the ribbon and the cardboard, until the weight in my chest felt unbearable.
And when I finally turned to leave, the only thing I could think about was how stupid it was, how I should’ve known better.
Maybe people like him don’t stay soft.
Not for girls like me…
And girls like me… should stop expecting them to.
—
Joshua
The second the door shut, the sound felt like a gunshot.
My back hit the wood, and I slid down until I was sitting on the floor, the echo of her voice still playing in my head.
Happy Valenti—
Cut off.
Because ofme.
I pressed the heel of my palm against my eyes, breathing hard.
“Fuck…” I muttered under my breath.
What the hell did I just do?
My fingers threaded through my hair, pulling until it hurt, until the sting distracted me from the ache in my chest.
I could still see her face. That tiny, soft smile she’d given me right before I broke her again. The way she held that box like it meant something. LikeImeant something.
And I crushed it all with one sentence.
My throat tightened, my body shaking against the door. I wanted to run after her, to grab her wrist and take it back, to tell her it wasn’t her, it was me, it was them, it was everything.
That I didn’t mean it. That I never mean it when it comes to her. But I didn’t move. I stayed there, useless, cowardly.
Tiny footsteps padded against the floor, and I looked down.
Honey.
The little thing crept toward me, tail low, ears twitching, eyes round with worry. It hesitated for a second before curling up right against my leg, pressing its head against my foot like it could calm me down.
