🖋 Prologue - Tethered by Silence : Gabriel Collin (Male lead) I want to know about her. Not just her name or where she's from. Not just what she does when the world isn't watching. I want to know what kept her eyes wide open that day- Why she stood tall when everyone else just stared. I want to know what made her raise her hand. People say silence is empty. They're wrong. Her silence-between the yelling, the slapping, the chaos-held everything. I want to know what she didn't say. What she wanted to. What she couldn't. Because the more I try to forget her, The more I realize-I'm tethered. Not to her lips, or her voice. But to the silence that followed. : Amora Brown (Female Lead) He looked at me like I was the villain. Maybe I was. Maybe villains wear calm faces and speak too gently. Maybe they walk into a mess they didn't cause-only to make it worse. I said nothing. Not because I had nothing to say. But because the truth had no place in that moment. Not in front of him. Not yet. So I used the only language I had left: A hand across his cheek. A warning wrapped in confusion. Let him wonder. Let him search. Because sometimes silence isn't just the absence of noise. It's the weight of everything unspoken. And mine is heavier than he knows.