Chapter 1
I followed him inside the apartment.
The half-open door creaked faintly as I pushed it, afraid the silence might swallow me whole. My breath came in uneven waves, my tears not yet dry — the traces of an unfinished battle still clinging to me.
He was sitting on the couch, his back slightly bent, his hands clasped as if trying to block out the world. When he heard my voice, he didn’t look up.
“Ayan…”
I said his name softly, not sure what I meant to say, only that I needed to say something.
He didn’t move.
I took another step toward him. “I didn’t mean anything. I just… wanted us to talk.” My words came out broken, fragile. “Where did everything go wrong?”
I felt as if I was trying to rescue something precious slipping through my hands — my voice carrying every ounce of truth I had left.
He stayed silent for a moment, then exhaled slowly, as though the air itself had become too heavy for him.
When he finally lifted his head, his eyes weren’t angry, nor sad — just tired. Utterly, deeply tired.
“It’s not that simple, Marian,” he said, his voice steady but hollow, “I just… need to rest.”
The world froze around me.
For a moment, even time refused to move.
“Rest?” I echoed. “From us?”
He rubbed his temples, his words dragging like weights.
“I can’t keep up anymore. The pressure — work, meetings, deadlines. I barely have time to breathe. I feel like I’m failing at everything… including you.”
I sank slowly to the floor before him, my knees weak.
“I’m not a burden,” I whispered, searching his face for any sign, any flicker of the man I knew. “You said we’d face everything together.”
But his silence said what his lips couldn’t.
When his hand slipped from mine, I understood — something in him had already let go.
