Where My Heart Belongs

8. Fractured Ties : Aiden

I stared at the screen, waiting for something that wasn't coming. Antara's name sat there in my messages—her last reply was from yesterday, short and polite. Now, I was left in a vacuum. The small flickers of connection I thought we had started building seemed to dim every time she didn't respond. And this time, she didn't even bother to reply to the message.

I tossed my phone onto the desk with a bit more force than I intended, the dull thud reminding me just how ridiculous this felt. Waiting. Checking. Hoping.

Who am I even turning into?

It's not like I couldn't take a hint. I've read people my entire life, always knowing what they wanted or what was going through their heads before they said it out loud. With Antara, though, I couldn't read her. One moment, I felt like she was opening up, and the next, she built walls so high I couldn't see over them.

For just a split second, I thought I saw her let her guard down. Her soft laughs felt like a victory, a glimpse of something more. 

Maybe it wasn't me. Maybe it was just her. I know she's been through things, that she's carrying more than she lets on, but how am I supposed to fix this if she keeps shutting me out?

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, closing my eyes for a second, the tension in my chest growing tighter with each passing minute of silence. No matter how much I tried to rationalize it, it hurt. The space she was putting between us felt like a rejection.

I should be used to that feeling by now, right?

My father never had the time for me. I learned young that trying too hard for his attention would always end in disappointment. But my mom... she made up for that emptiness, the warmth that was missing from him. With her, I never had to second guess if I was enough. Until she was gone.

Then I was alone. Even Amara, as much as she loves me, couldn't fill the void that losing Mom left behind. With Aaron, I love him, and I know he loves me too, but he's more distant now, wrapped up in his own world. He was affected the most by Mom's death, taking the brunt of Dad's anger as he blamed him for everything, as if being born had somehow stolen her from us. And Dad? He wasn't there before, so why should he start now? Especially now that the one person he actually loved was no more.

I guess that's why it stings so much. Antara's silence. It takes me back to that same place—the emptiness. The feeling that I'm not good enough, or worse, that I don't even exist to the person who matters.

A soft knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts. Marco stuck his head in, a grin spreading across his face. "You ready for the meeting, man?"

"Yeah," I said, standing up and smoothing out my shirt, trying to push all the tangled thoughts of Antara to the back of my mind. "Just... give me a minute."

Marco gave me a knowing look. "It's her, isn't it?"

I wanted to brush it off, play it cool, but Marco knew me too well. He had seen this side of me before, the side that gets lost in someone else. I hated that it was so obvious, but with Marco and Leo, it was hard to hide.

"Yeah," I admitted. "She's been... distant."

"Dude, just give it time."

"I don't know if she will ever let me in."

Marco stepped fully into the room, closing the door behind him. "Listen, I've seen the way she looks at you. There's something there. She's just... complicated."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm not built for complicated."

He chuckled, clapping me on the shoulder. "Since when? You love complicated."