My Dear Annabelle

Chapter - 7 Echoes Of Regret

The office was quiet, with only the soft hum of the air conditioning breaking the silence. Riya sat at her desk, staring blankly at the stack of documents she had been working on for hours.

Her mind, however, wasn't on work. Jeff's words from earlier echoed in her head, each syllable replaying with unsettling clarity.

"He's just a kid, Riya. It's normal for kids to fight."

Riya leaned back in her chair, letting out a slow breath. She had dismissed Jeff's concerns earlier, convinced that her methods were the right ones. But now, sitting alone in her dimly lit office, doubt crept in.

"Did I go too far?"

The question lingered in her mind, uncomfortable and persistent. She thought about Kuea's behaviour over the past few days... the distance between them growing with each passing day of his suspension.

He had been quiet, more withdrawn than usual, and even though she had expected some resistance to the punishment, this felt different.

He barely ate, didn't come out of his room except when absolutely necessary, and avoided eye contact whenever they crossed paths. The boy she once knew, full of energy and passion, seemed to be slipping away.

She sighed, running her hand through her hair as guilt gnawed at her. Perhaps Jeff was right... perhaps she had pushed Kuea too hard, expecting perfection without considering the toll it was taking on him.

She thought back to the other times he had been in fights, how he would come home with cuts and bruises, never explaining much but always brushing it off as if it were nothing. She had never realized how serious it was until this last incident.

And the way he couldn't even remember what had happened... it frightened her.

"Is this punishment really helping him? Or am I just driving him further away?"

Riya sat there for what felt like hours, lost in thought, before finally coming to a conclusion. She had gone too far.

Maybe it was time to ease up, to talk to Kuea instead of just punishing him. She needed to reach him before it was too late, before the rift between them grew any wider.

With a newfound sense of urgency, Riya stood up, packing her things into her bag. She glanced at the clock... it was already late, but she needed to get home, needed to check on Kuea.

She grabbed her coat and stepped out of her office, the cold air from the hallway hitting her as she left the building.

As she walked toward the parking lot, she noticed the weather had taken a sudden turn. The wind howled through the empty streets, and rain poured down in sheets, drenching everything in its path.

Riya pulled her coat tighter around herself, her heels clicking against the wet pavement as she hurried to her car.

There was something about the storm that made her feel uneasy. The air was thick with tension, and the heavy downpour made it difficult to see beyond a few feet in front of her.

She quickly unlocked her car and slid into the driver's seat, turning the key in the ignition. The engine roared to life, and she wasted no time pulling out of the parking lot.

The rain pounded against the windshield as Riya drove through the streets, her knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel too tightly.

The storm seemed to worsen with every passing minute, and her anxiety grew. She couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

"I need to get home. Fast."

She pressed down on the accelerator, driving faster than usual, her mind racing with thoughts of Kuea. She hadn't seen him all day, and guilt twisted in her chest as she realized how distant they had become.