a's

e to stay. The manager sitting across from me hadn't looked up from his tablet in a full minute. He was scrolling through somethin

ience working the register, bussin

glued to the screen. "We'll

ming. No fake smile. Just a brus

g the straps of my backpac

to the sunlight like someone waking up from a bad dream. The streets were busy,

lines were already crossed out. The cafés, the bookstores, the diners that had smiled polite

h growled but I didn't have time for lunch. Not with rent

s supposed to figure that out. I'd known it wasn't going to be easy starting over,

t want to think about. I came here to breathe. To build something from

or that. Mr. Tall, Grumpy, and Condescending. He probably thought I was sleeping on gold sheets just beca

e edge of downtown. I'd written it down on a whim, not thinking I'd ac

d air wrapped around me. Everything smelled like lemon polish and money. A woman behind the front desk blinke

posting," I said, tryi

curtain for a minute before returning with a man in a suit so

look at me

or someone more

was

nore the heat crawling up my n

r eyes on my back. Judging. Dismissing. Like I was some

eyes swept over me, pausing on my clothes, my hair, my visible discomfort, told me everything I needed to know before he even opened his mouth. I wasn't what they wanted. Not clean-cut, not elegant, not invisible enough to blend in. I felt like an unwanted smudge on a perfectly polished window. It wasn't just this place, either. Every interview, every rejection felt like a tiny crack forming inside me, slowly spreading across my resolve. I was trying. God, I was trying so hard. But no

say you don't want someone with scarlet

g of rejection settling into my bones. Seven reje

uffed with cotton. I fumbled with the key and pushed the door open, expecting

ad, I

power suit magazine. Her skirt was black and pencil-straight. Her blouse was buttoned all the way up. Her heels we

just broken in. Her eyes n

pped. "And what exactl

ught complete

r. My entire day rushed through m

pened my mou

words go