'Even the wound from the cigarette fire on my arm, he took good care of it. So good that my mom missed this and didn't notice.' I thought. I touched the layer of bandage on my arm, Luke's handiwork.That touch awakened something in my heart. 'This is not the time for you to raise your self-esteem, Belle. You're the one at fault here!'I take a long breath, so long, gripping the doorknob as a handle, then exhale. Once the weight on my chest began to ease, I was ready to step outside.I was worried that if I looked at the sofa, no one was sitting on it. Luke could leave me if he wanted to. If that happened, I didn't know what else to do."Luke..." His name came up spontaneously after I saw that the angle he was sitting in hadn't changed at all from when we last spoke."Are you done?" That was all he said. Seeing me standing stiffly in the corner of the room didn't melt the ice in his heart.I nodded my head in reply. Afterward, his gaze fell back on the screen of his laptop that was on.
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