“Are you sure you are alright?” Maya asked, lifting a sandwich toward Sophia’s lips. “You seem different.”

“Why?” Sophia replied, frowning slightly as she took a bite. “Did you spend a year mourning after your first heartbreak, weeping over someone who clearly did not care, or did you become a depressed woman desperate for affection?”

She felt strangely detached. Everything seemed oddly ordinary because she had partly shut down her emotions, blocking out whatever caused pain.

“Well, you were acting very differently last night,” Maya said, gently wiping the corner of Sophia’s mouth with a handkerchief.

“Are you sure you are okay? You do not have to pretend. I am...