42

Vivian

I jammed the door behind me and leaned against it, my mind churning in confusion. Nate has been different lately. More caring, more thoughtful. He was not the same arrogant, cold man I was used to. And it was throwing me off. But it had to be because of how guilty he felt.

My chest tightened as I thought about the dinner. His efforts, though clumsy, were genuine. And the way he remembered I liked pad thai. It was a detail I had not expected him to care about. But that didn’t change what had happened between us. No amount of grand gestures or sweet words could erase the pain he had caused.

I threw myself onto the bed, feeling the weight of it all press down on me. How could he expect me to just forget everything? How could he think that a few apologies and a couple of thoughtful actions would make me trust him again?

The worst part was, a small part of me wanted to believe him. I wanted to believe that maybe, just maybe, Nate had changed. But that part of me was tiny, so tiny tha