. The silence in the room was louder than the city hum outside the floor-to-ceiling

three months," he murmured in

on through me. It didn't feel like affection, it

id," I repeated

ance. "Come on, Chloe. A little

It stripped away any pretense of intimacy or emotion, reducing it to a p

pushed his hands away. "I said I'm

harm to irritation. For a moment, the mask of the successful, ch

a gesture of mock surrender. "Whatever you w

shoulders, screamed frustration. He was playing the part of the patient, accommo

away the feeling of Sarah's judging eyes and David's hollow words. When I came out, wrapped in a thick ho

own on the very edge of my side, the space between

ration. He glanced at it, and his thumbs immediately started moving, tapping out

throom," he muttered, ta

shut. I heard the faint sound of the fan, but not the tap. He wasn't washing his

into bed. He walked over to the des

e a little too loud in the quiet room. "Sarah's found a fla

ntioning her name. He was praising her, building her

cut through the air. "You s

ed line cast into the

ly, his face illuminated by the blueish gl

at suppose

t," I said, sitting up. "More tha

e stood up, his temper finally breaking

rt a fight? I'm under immense pressure, my career is on the

hey didn't make me feel childish, they made me feel

re in college, not yet a "convenient arrangement," just two kids from connected families. David was the golden boy, the

asn't ugly, just... plain. In a world of bright, shiny people, I was beige. I remember

us. He wasn't my boyfriend then, just a friend of a fri

iet balcony. "You're smart. That's more important than bei

s was now the one making me feel small and inadequate. The boy who told me I was pretty now had an assistant

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