Alice

I don’t know when everything started to feel this heavy.

At first, my world had been simple.

I had dreams, of course—but they were the kind that felt within reach. Finish college. Find a stable job. Help Mom, even though she always insisted she could handle everything on her own.

But when I met Lance, it felt as if my life's direction began to slowly change.

Not because he forced it.

In fact, it was the complete opposite.

He was always the careful one.

He was the first to say that we shouldn’t rush things. The one who constantly reminded me that my studies had to come first.

That...