I was supposed to resume after the weekend, but here I was, another Friday slipping away while I lay in bed, still trying to make sense of everything. Somehow, I'd involuntarily gifted myself an extra week off work without warning, without explanation.
"Wait, Shar… why are you lying here like your life's over?" I asked, startled by my own voice, as if speaking to someone else. I shot upright, my heart thudding, pretending I wasn't paralyzed by the mess of my thoughts.
Life hadn't been fun before, but without Aec, it felt like a hollow echo. I still had Maxie, Zion, and Marcus, even if the latter two were unpredictable in their own ways but a part of me ached in his absence.
My phone beeped twice. It was from work, a text.... Resume next week or kiss my job goodbye. I forced a laugh, shaky and bitter. "Maybe it's for the better," I muttered. But the weight lingered, pressing me down, a reminder of Maxie's advice echoing in my mind.
Why did a man have so much power over me anyway?
