The composure she had been clinging to shattered like glass. Her arms fell to her sides. Her hands curled into fists. Her eyes—those beautiful green eyes—filled with fresh tears that spilled down her cheeks before she could stop them.
"You already had someone in your life," she said, her voice rising, trembling, breaking. "Why didn't you reject me from the very beginning? Why did you keep me hanging? Why did you let me know you? Why did you let me *feel* things I've never felt before?"
Attia opened his mouth.
She didn't let him speak.
"It was all a farce, wasn't it?" Her voice grew louder, wilder, unhinged with pain. "The conversations. The questions. The way you looked at me like I mattered. It was all just... just *practice* for the real thing. For *her.*"
"That's not—"
"Don't." Sh
