RAFAEL 

Call me stupid—or whatever the hell you want. Because honestly? I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. It’s like I’m being pulled by some invisible force, like she’s gravity itself. The air I breathe. And without her, it’s like my lungs refuse to function, my heart stutters.

This whole thing is fucked. The curse. The fact that I’m retreating into myself again, back to that cold, numb shell I swore I’d outgrown. I miss her. God, I miss her. For the short time we were together, she did something no one else ever managed—she made me feel like a man. Not a weapon. Not a vengeful machine. A...