Rome...
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Silence fell like a heavy curtain.
The kind that presses against your ears until every breath feels too loud. It wrapped itself around the room, thick and suffocating, and for a moment I wondered if this was what it felt like when something finally broke beyond repair.
My mother didn't answer right away.
She stood there clutching the envelope as if it had suddenly grown teeth, her fingers tightening around the paper until it crumpled slightly in her grip.
Her lips parted, then closed again, as though words rose to the surface only to drown before they could escape. For the first time in my life, she looked… cornered.
My father straightened, his expression hardening as he took a step closer, his presence filling the space the way it always did when he wanted to assert authority.
"What is that? what are you accusing your mother of, Rome?"
I didn't look at him.
My eyes never left her.
