Covet [Original]

The Return

It was late one evening when Rhea's phone finally lit up with a message from Juno. She almost didn't believe it, staring at the notification as if it were a mirage. Part of her wanted to ignore it, to make Juno wait the way she'd waited, filled with so much hurt and anger. But before she could think twice, she opened the message.

> "Hey. It's been a while."

Rhea's fingers tightened around her phone. A while was an understatement. Weeks had gone by with nothing but silence. And now, after all the nights she'd spent agonizing over Juno's absence, Juno's return felt almost casual, as if nothing had happened.

She struggled with what to say. She wanted to lash out, to tell Juno how much it hurt to be left in the dark like that. But she also didn't want to push her away again-not after waiting so long to hear from her.

"Yeah. You kind of disappeared," she finally replied, her words sharper than she intended.

There was a pause, and Rhea could feel her heart pounding in the silence. Then, Juno's reply came through.

> "Sorry about that. Things have just been... busy, I guess. I'm in nursing school now, so my life's been kind of chaotic."

Rhea's anger flared again. She couldn't understand how Juno could be so nonchalant. She felt like she'd been living in a shadow, trapped in the desires and questions Juno had left behind. And now, Juno was too busy for her, as if the connection they'd shared had been a passing whim.

"So... that's it?" Rhea typed, her frustration slipping through. "You just got too busy and forgot about me?"

Another pause. This time, it stretched so long that Rhea thought Juno wouldn't respond at all.

> "It's not that simple. I just... needed to focus on myself for a while."

Rhea stared at the message, feeling a strange mixture of anger and longing. Part of her wanted to yell at Juno, to tell her how selfish it was to pull her in, to stir up all these feelings, and then leave without warning. But another part of her just wanted Juno back, wanted things to go back to the way they'd been before.

"Well, while you were focusing on yourself, I was dealing with everything you left behind," she typed, her words more honest than she'd planned. "You're the one who made me feel like this, Juno. And now you act like it doesn't matter."

The screen stayed quiet for a long time, and Rhea's heart sank, a bitter feeling settling in her chest. But then, finally, Juno replied.

> "Look, I never meant for you to take it so seriously. I thought you understood that we were just... talking, that we were both just exploring things together."

Rhea's chest tightened. She couldn't believe what she was reading. After everything, Juno was acting as if it had all been some kind of game, as if her feelings had been nothing more than a passing curiosity.

"Just talking?" she replied, her fingers shaking. "That's what this was to you?"

She waited, feeling her pulse throb as she stared at the screen, willing Juno to say something that would make it all make sense. But when Juno finally responded, her words were distant, careful, almost cold.

> "Rhea, I don't know what you want me to say. I'm just... in a different place now. I don't think I can be there for you in the way you want."

Rhea felt a sting of betrayal that cut deeper than she expected. All the desires Juno had awoken in her, all the questions she'd struggled with alone-they had been real to her. But now, she felt like she was the only one still holding on.

"Fine," she typed, her hands shaking as she hit send. "Maybe I don't need you, anyway."

She closed the chat, her mind racing, every emotion crashing over her at once. She felt lost, like she was floating in a storm with nothing to hold onto. The part of her that had needed Juno, that had clung to her for answers, felt like it was unraveling, leaving her exposed and vulnerable.

But beneath the sadness, a new feeling was taking root-a fierce determination. She couldn't keep waiting for someone who would never be there, couldn't keep letting Juno's words control her. For the first time, she realized she needed to find her own answers, to reclaim the parts of herself she had let slip away in the wake of Juno's influence.

As she lay in bed that night, staring at the ceiling, Rhea felt a strange calm settle over her. She knew she couldn't erase what Juno had left behind, the desires and questions that had become part of her. But she also knew she couldn't keep looking to Juno to make sense of it all. She would have to find her own way through the darkness, even if it meant confronting parts of herself she'd been too afraid to face before.

And somehow, she felt ready.