liasinterlude
Essence Marie Jones is seventeen and already tired of being strong.
In a house filled with empty bottles and louder silence, she's learned how to survive-balancing school, exhaustion, and the responsibility of raising her two-year-old sister, Love. Her parents are present in body but absent in every way that matters, leaving Essence to grow up faster than she ever should have.
Sincere Amazi Banks comes from a world that taught him love is earned through pain. Older, guarded, and shaped by the streets, he's spent his life believing survival is the only thing promised to people like him. Dreams were a luxury he couldn't afford-until Essence.
When their lives collide, what begins as quiet understanding turns into something dangerous: hope. But loving each other comes with consequences, and in a world where everything has a cost, they must decide how much they're willing to lose to hold on to each other.
Because some love stories don't ask for your heart.
They ask for everything.