Eve
The moment I stepped into my office, the door clicking shut behind me, I let out a heavy sigh that felt like it came from the bottom of my lungs. The familiar scent of coffee and paper should have grounded me, but today it just made everything feel… off. Distant.
My phone buzzed in my hand. I glanced down.
A message from Mia:
Running late today. Will be in by 11. Apologies for the inconvenience.
Formal. Polite. Cold.
I stared at the screen longer than I should have. This wasn’t the Mia who used to burst in with two lattes and gossip about the weekend. This was someone performing a role. Someone who’d already checked out.
My chest tightened. The friendship we’d had—the late nights laughing over stupid memes, the way she’d been there when everything with my family fell apart—was g
