A pair of freshly polished shoes sat by the door, untouched since yesterday. They felt misplaced now. Quiet reminders of an evening that began in celebration but ended in silence.

There’d been no voice calling my name after I slipped away. Only the hum of the radiator. The distant bark of a neighbor’s dog. No one noticed I had left before the first dance ended.

By now, he would’ve opened the email. The one I typed with calm fingers but a heart too fractured to feel the pain. Not out of rage. Not to punish. But from something colder than both.

I returned to the table. My laptop screen still glowed, a single line staring back at me—one I hadn’t dared to say out loud until now…