𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐬

thirty-four.

"Are you okay?"

I almost pretend I don't hear him.

Given our past twenty-four hours, Anaca is nearly the last person I want to talk to right now.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Anaca's face contorts itself into something that resembles both frustration and somberness. He knows he shouldn't get further involved, but he can't help himself.

"I didn't realize..."

My lungs contract. "The lack of empathy runs in the family?" I heartlessly snicker.

"You don't lack empathy, Woody," he murmurs. "You might have more than most people."

I brush off his words. "Guess you better get to it."

"Woody..."

"Sooner you're done the faster I'm gone," I say as my legs carry me into the master bedroom, sure to shut the door behind me.

I shouldn't be short or cruel to Anaca.

It's not what I want.

I don't desire to hurt him.

If anything, I truly do want him to be happy.

Since I got here, I've been pretty selfish.

Openly taunting a committed man.

A man, who has always tried to do the right thing.

Till me.

I am the poison that clouds his judgement.

It's silly to think he would want to live the rest of his life like that.

I don't know how long I was in there when I started to hear muffled voices. At first, I swore I must be hearing things because all I'd heard up until that point was my own thoughts and Anaca working. Yet that had subsided and now I heard whisperings.

I wouldn't have interfered, but I heard the passive aggression rise and what sounded to be a snippet of my name.

When I stepped into the hallway, I found Anaca hunched over pinching his nose while Auden stood at his side with Tigger in her arms.

The kitten looks pissed, his paws flared and his eyes narrowed. She holds him in one hand, completely immobilizing him. Though it seems any fight he had, he's given up.

They were clearly arguing about something, but Auden quickly paints a smile on her lips.

"Hi, Woody."

"Hey."

"Don't—" Anaca starts to shake his head.

"I was hoping you'd want to come out with the girls and I tonight," Auden says anyway. "Chloe and Charity want to get some drinks."

You'd think when I didn't show up for yoga again, it might have been a hint, but now she's beaming at me like a warm fuzzy cupcake Yankee candle.

How is it I don't feel guilt typically, but Auden is quickly becoming an extension of Anaca.

Hurting her, hurts him.

I feel bile in my throat that I swallow down.

"Can I pick where we go?"

"Have somewhere in mind?" Auden nods.

"Yeah."

Anaca straightens his shoulders, shooting a glare my way. It's completely unknown to Auden as he stood slightly behind her now.