★Nathan★
I had replayed the moment at least a hundred times since last night. The way Cassandra stood up from the table, the way her eyes shifted, the way she whispered that she couldn't do it before walking away without looking back. I had sat there in the restaurant long after she had left, staring at her empty seat as if she might suddenly return. But she hadn't. And by the time I drove home, I felt hollow. Shocked. Hurt in a way I had not expected. I had not pushed her. I had not demanded anything. I had simply tried. And she had walked away from me as though the conversation meant nothing. Sleep had not helped. If anything, it had made everything worse. I woke up still feeling that tight ache in my chest, the kind that reminded me I had let myself want something deeply. Too deeply. I
