- Aria -
The sun had barely begun its gentle ascent when I stirred, a faint glimmer of light cutting through the curtains, splashing muted hues across the room. I stretched, feeling the sumptuous silk of my robe slide across my skin, but the chill of Sean's absence was immediate, an unsettling quiet in the kind of morning that should have felt comforting. I glanced at the other side of the bed—not a trace of him—just a cold expanse of sheets and a faint indentation where his warmth had been.
Sighing, I swung my legs over the edge, the wooden floor biting into my bare feet as I braced myself against the sudden shift from cozy to reality. It was only 5 AM, the cruel hour when the world felt particularly heavy. My body still ached from the surgery; my movements slow and methodical, as if I
