Chapter 4:

Tangled Emotions

The hours after the confrontation blurred into a haze of avoidance and heavy silence. Jake had stormed out of the kitchen that afternoon without another word, leaving me standing there with my heart pounding and my world tilting on its axis. I spent the rest of the day hiding in my room, earbuds in, pretending to work on “design projects” while my mind replayed every accusation, every heated glance. Guilt gnawed at me not for my career, but for the pain I’d clearly caused him. Shame flickered too, uninvited, making me question if hiding it so long had been fair. But beneath it all, a treacherous...