For Me,There Is Only You |18+|

57. The Longing

The world felt like a blur—colors muted, voices muffled, as if they came from a far-off place.

Even my own heartbeat seemed to whisper instead of thrum.

Kyler's usually carefree voice floated around the living room, where we all sat together.

He was chatting—or rather, being scolded—by Phoebe and Genesis as they argued about something. Their words, though close, sounded strangely distant to me, like an echo fading before it could fully reach.

I sat curled up on the single black leather sofa, leaning against the armrest, my knees pulled tight to my chest. A book rested in my hand, but its pages were unread, the words swimming in my unfocused vision.

My gaze remained fixed on the front door, empty and unblinking, as if I were waiting for it to open—to someone—that would never come.

"You've barely touched your sandwich," Kyler's voice broke through the haze, soft but insistent. I felt his eyes on me.

With a sigh, I shifted my gaze to the plate on the table. The sandwich, half-forgotten, bore only a single bite.

"I'm not hungry," I muttered, deliberately avoiding his eyes.

It was true, in a way.

Even that first bite had been forced, taken only because Kyler had made it for me after I'd refused the scrambled eggs and bacon earlier.

"You said that yesterday too," Phoebe cut in, her voice sharper than Kyler's but not unkind.

"That's because I wasn't hungry then either," I replied quietly, my tone carrying a hint of defensiveness. Then, to soften my words, I managed a faint, apologetic smile. "I'll eat it later."

For a moment, the three of them—Kyler, Phoebe, and Genesis—just looked at me.

"Seriously, Neev... if your mate finds out I've been 'starving' you, he'll have my head," Kyler said with a half-joking grin, though his worried eyes betrayed him.

He won't find out... because he's not coming back.

"You're not starving me," I said softly, trying to sound reassuring, though the words felt like a lie even as I spoke them.

Kyler raised an eyebrow. "Do you think Ansel's going to be logical about that? Especially when he hears you haven't eaten properly for two days?"

I sighed, a tired sound that seemed to drain what little energy I had left.

Without a word, I leaned forward, picked up the plate, and started eating. Each bite felt heavier than the last, tasteless and mechanical.

Swallowing was harder than it should have been, the sandwich settling in my stomach like a weight.

"There," I said finally, holding up the now-empty plate. "Happy now?"

Kyler's grin spread across his face, warm and satisfied. "Very."

I looked at him, at the way his whole face lit up with even the smallest accomplishment.

His kindness felt almost foreign to me—so starkly different from the cold, distant bitterness I'd grown used to from his brother.

He was nothing like Karson. So different. So caring.

Yet even his concern couldn't fill the growing emptiness I didn't understand.

"But it's the weekend," Phoebe said, leaning back on the sofa beside Genesis. Her sharp green eyes shifted to Kyler. "You were at headquarters yesterday, right? Why didn't Ansel and the others come back with you?"