Finding Refuge

Charlotte

I stared in disbelief at his response and instantly looked away. An uneasy feeling coursed through my body in waves. I had moved miles away to run from a reality I didn’t want, but it had caught up with me.

“You didn’t call anybody. Did you?” I asked as my palms felt sweaty and my body trembled slightly. If he had thought that I was part of Rogerio’s family and called them, I wasn’t sure how to process that.

I didn’t want them to know where I was. I had moved so far so I never crossed paths with them. I knew the Thuthais were somewhere in the upper-class region, but I hoped for a minute that I would get a break from all that. I tried to steady my breathing and started pacing.

“No, I didn’t think I had any reason to,” he said after a long silence, and I sighed in relief.

“Is there a problem? You have their…” he continued, but I waved dismissively.

“It’s a long story. Complicated one too,” I responded.

“I’ve got a lot of those too,” he said, and we chuckled. We stared at each