Chapter Three: The Edge of Wanting
Distance was supposed to save them. It did not.
They tried to be careful, tried to redefine what they were, but emotions are not polite guests. They arrive uninvited and refuse to leave. Every meeting carried the ache of restraint, the tension of two people holding back a truth too heavy to release.
One evening, trapped by a sudden storm, they found shelter under a narrow awning. Rain thundered down, isolating them from the world. They stood close, breath mingling, the air thick with everything they refused to say.
Ethan reached out—not to touch her, but to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. The gesture was tender, devastating. Lila closed her eyes, her resolve cracking under the weight of her longing. For one breathless moment, they hovered there, suspended between right and ruin.
When he pulled away, it felt like loss.
That was the night Lila understood: this was no fleeting temptation. This was the kind of connection that rewrites you, whether you give in or not. And that, perhaps, was the cruelest part.