Serein had promised herself she would leave today, right after waking.
Yet the moment she stepped out of Kai's room, backpack neatly packed and ready, she was pulled straight to the table where Susan had already set out lunch, warm and fragrant just like the day before.
Unable to disappoint that radiant smile, she told herself, after this meal, I will go.
But new excuses kept weaving themselves over the old ones.
After helping her chop the vegetables.
After running dishes during the dinner rush.
After the crowd thins out a little.
And so the day slipped by, until the late hours pressed down like a curtain of dusk.
Throughout the day, Kai spoke little to her. He did not joke, nor linger with his glances. The conversation from last night had left behind a thin, invisible barrier neither of them dared to breach.
Serein knew she should have welcomed that distance. It would make her departure easier.
