Twilight of Shadows | LingOrm (GxG)

THIRTY THREE

Lada stood at the kitchen counter, her hands trembling as she arranged the dishes she had spent hours preparing. The comforting aroma of sautéed vegetables and rich, savory stew filled the air, but the warmth it should have brought felt absent. The room, once buzzing with laughter and conversation, now felt cold, especially with Narin at her friend's sleepover.

It is just the two of them—Lada and Earn—and the silence was suffocating.

Earn leaned against the doorway, crutches propped under her arms. Though her body had healed enough to walk without assistance, her emotional wounds seemed deeper than ever. Her face was a mask of indifference, her eyes distant, as if rejecting Lada's effort before she could even begin.

"Everything's ready," Lada said softly, placing the last dish on the table. She glanced at Earn, hoping for a flicker of acknowledgment.

Nothing.

Earn moved slowly toward the table, her steps deliberate. Lada watched her with concern, longing thick in her chest, but Earn avoided her gaze, focusing instead on sitting down. Her movements were stiff, mechanical, detached.

"I made your favorite," Lada said, trying to smile as she gestured to the food. "Tom yum soup, grilled prawns, sticky rice with mango... I thought maybe—"

Earn glanced at the spread, eyes cold, before picking up her fork in silence. She stabbed a prawn without a word.

Lada's heart sank. "You're healing so well, Earn," she continued, voice trembling slightly. "I'm proud of how strong you've been."

For a second, Earn's hand paused over her plate. Then she kept eating. The silence between them felt like a chasm growing wider by the second.

"Earn, please," Lada's voice wavered. "Can we talk? About us? About what's happening?"

Earn finally looked up, eyes sharp. "What's there to talk about?" Her voice was cold, dismissive. "You've done what you thought was best. I'm recovering. Isn't that enough?"

Lada flinched, her breath catching. "It's not enough," she whispered. "It's not enough for me. I need to know where we stand."

Earn let out a short, bitter laugh, her fork clattering against her plate. "Where we stand?" She shook her head. "We don't stand anywhere, Lada. Not anymore. You can't just cook a meal and expect things to magically go back to the way they were."

"I'm not asking for things to be the same," Lada pleaded, voice shaking. "I just want to find a way forward. I miss you. I miss—"

"You miss me?" Earn interrupted, her tone icy. "You miss us?" She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Do you think that makes any difference now? Your family destroyed mine, Lada. That's the truth. And no apology, no dinner, is going to fix that."

Lada's hands trembled as she gripped the edge of the table. "I'm sorry," she whispered, the words heavy with guilt. "I'm so sorry for what happened, but I can't change the past. I just want to try to make things right now."

"You can't make it right." Earn's eyes were filled with something dark, something unforgiving. "Some things are too broken to be fixed."

Lada felt like the ground was falling out from under her. Her voice cracked as she whispered, "Earn, please... don't shut me out."

"I'm not shutting you out," Earn snapped, pushing her plate away. "I'm done." She stood, crutches clattering as she steadied herself. "You think love can fix this? You think it's that simple?"

Lada said desperately, standing as tears filled her eyes. "I care for you more than I know how to say."

"Don't," Earn recoiled, her face hardening. "Don't say that. Don't pretend that care alone is enough to fix this. It's not."

Care? Care, Lada? Really?

Lada reached out, her fingers trembling as they hovered near Earn's hand. "Please. Just... give us a chance."

Earn stepped back as if Lada's touch burned her. "A chance?" She scoffed, bitterness dripping from her voice. "You really think after everything that happened, we can just go back? I gave you everything. And now, I don't even know if what we had was real."

Lada's breath caught. "Don't say that."

Earn continued, eyes blazing. "And what did I get in return? Your family's betrayal. You were blind to it, or worse, maybe you didn't care enough to see it."

Lada's chest tightened, her voice breaking. "Earn... I didn't know—"

"Exactly," Earn said sharply. "You didn't know. You were blind to it all, and now you want to act like this can be fixed?"

"I just want—"

"Stop," Earn cut her off, her voice cold. "Just... stop."

Lada stood frozen, her heart breaking as she watched Earn turn and limp away, the door to her room clicking shut behind her.

The silence that followed was deafening. Lada stayed where she was, staring at the empty space Earn had left behind. Tears blurred her vision as she slowly sank into her chair, her hands trembling in her lap. She had tried—desperately tried—to reach Earn, to break through the walls she had built. But now, sitting there in the suffocating quiet, it felt like Earn was already gone.

Lada didn't know if she'd ever come back.

Just maybe, I should try again or try harder to win Earn back.