partment was a blur of

y mistakes, how I'd peel away the mask layer by laye

ctate my present. Every time I believed love equaled pain. Every time I

toni

noc

arefoot, eyes shadowed with sleepless worry. His expression

la

t in, stepping inside

here familiar photographs hung on the walls - portra

racing. "I've been hidi

d, but he stayed

rotect me. That if I kept everyon

ftened, but the

, voice cracking. "All it'

of si

e enough that I could hear th

e walls down," he murmured. "But I needed

ind my eyes. "I'

ne, hesitant - as if af

idn

ed, touch honest,

slipped

me... I didn't feel