Raphael's POV
For a long second, I just stared at the message.
My chest felt hollow, like something had been scooped out and left empty. She really left. A part of me had known she would. I'd seen it in the way she avoided my eyes this morning, the way her smile didn't quite reach them over breakfast.
She had been distant, and I was secretly glad that at least she ate with me, yet I had still hoped. I don't know why.
Hope had never been enough to fix anything between us. A soft tsking sound pulled me back to the present.
My gaze snapped up. Amelia was leaning slightly, trying to peek at my phone screen, her head tilted with exaggerated curiosity and disappointment. I locked the screen immediately and lowered my hand out of her line of sight.
"What do you think you're doing?" I asked, my voice low and stripped of emotion. Exhaustion framed my face.
She straightened with a careless shrug, like she hadn't just crossed a line. "Relax. I was just curious." she casually chimed.
