The week went by naturally. But for Carmen, it felt like the longest, most torturing moments of her life, and as her eyes slowly opened to the light of a new day, she drew her knee towards her chest and curled into a ball.

When she heard a knock on her room door, she hastily squeezed her eyelids shut and hugged onto the pillow.

“Carm, are you awake?” Liam mumbled.

When he didn't get an answer from her, he rested his back against the door, hung his head, and sighed.

Today counted as the eighth day, he and Carmen had been sleeping in separate rooms, and they had been avoiding...