Kindness was never safe in a war built on silence and suspicion.

——

Lily’s POV

My first day at the café was…quiet. Uneventful, if you looked at it from the outside. But I could still feel the storm trailing behind me. The echo of the events off last night coupled to this morning’s confrontation clung to my skin like cold air.

I buried myself in work—hands busy, thoughts caged.

Gina, though, was a firecracker. Wild colors in her hair and wilder stories to match. I liked her. We were opposites—her boldness, my restraint—but maybe that's why the silence between us never felt awkward.

She never asked about my family, and...