Her shoulders stiffened instantly, every muscle in her body wound tight like a bowstring on the verge of snapping.
She turned around slowly, her eyes dark with a storm of emotions she could no longer suppress.
Her lips parted, trembling faintly, but no words came out.
The man stood just a few steps away, his hands casually tucked into his coat pockets, as if his presence in her ruined world was the most natural thing in the universe.
Why now? Why always when I'm barely holding myself together?
Her heart hammered violently against her ribs, each beat a painful echo of the memories she tried so hard to bury.
She wanted to scream at him, to demand why he kept appearing just when she thought she could finally forget.
But her voice… it was trapped behind the iron bars of her pride and fear.
It felt as if she were standing on the edge of a crumbling cliff, the ground beneath her feet eroding faster than she could find balance.
One wrong word, one wrong step, and she would tumble straight back into the darkness she'd barely crawled out of.
He took a deliberate step closer, his voice low and dangerously soft.
"Tell me, Emily… when will you finally stop pretending you're fine?"