ce pressed against her ears, a dull roar louder than any city noise. It had been a week since she walked out of Ryan's life-and her old one. A week

lone, unemployed, br

ffee mug-black coffee, no cream, no sug

evisit. Her furniture was minimal: a secondhand couch, a desk from her college days, and a bed that creaked every time she shifted.

uzzed. She

dy knew w

ou. Please, ju

en. The text blurred for a second, and she realized her eyes we

towel, squeezing out everything soft until there was nothi

phone face down. She wouldn'

. Logic was safer. Predictable. It didn't crumble under pre

now on, ambition would be her partner. She would rise again-not for

but never pursued because Ryan thought they were "too risky." Her fingers moved faster with each passing minute. Budg

he second one was louder. She hesitated, heart skipping-not becaus

it w

rmer coworker, holding Thai takeo

nudging her way inside. "And I wasn't going to le

r. Jasmine had a knack for knowing wh

ad between them, chopsticks clinkin

ine finally said. "Stronge

rying," Lian

s nothing wrong with being soft.

to be a fortress. I just-I need to rebuild with things I can count on

xcel fo

smile despite he

n't want you to lose the part of

people. She saw red flags and called them character flaws. She excuse

rve what happene

t happen longer th

under months of denial. She couldn't rewrite t

lights pulsed in the distance, soft golds and hard whites against the inky blue of

n't one

t

To forgive, to find someone new, to pretend love wasn'

he chose d

earlier that day-a single-page mission plan for a new consu

R STR

wered by ambition.

ractions. No spa

battlefield. Her mind

day, love kn

t at the door until

the light, and crawled into bed-

in months, Liana Carter w

choosing