Liara’s POV

The silence in the room was lying.

Yes. Lying.

It looked calm. Peaceful. Maybe even innocent.

But deep down, it was waiting to explode like a pot of stew that someone had forgotten on the fire.

I kept my bag down on a small cute table that was just by the window. And then I tried to act like a grown woman. One that had her life together even when I knew I didn’t.

On the other side of the room, he unpacked his things painfully slow. The way his shoulders were stiff? The way he breathed like he was fighting with oxygen? The man looked one bad...