She loved Attia.
She knew he felt something for her.
But love was not always enough.
Not when there were centuries of tradition and expectation standing in the way.
Lori pressed her hands to her face.
*I can't lose him,* she thought. *I can't.*
But even as she thought it, she knew the fight was far from over.
And she wasn't sure she was strong enough to win.
--
The days that followed Iva's visit settled into a strange, uneasy rhythm.
Lori attended her classes, took her notes, smiled at her professors. She met Attia in his office, filed papers, organized archives. They talked for hours—about everything and nothing, about their pasts and their hopes and the future they were trying to build together.
But something was off.
Attia was growing gloomier with each passing day.
At firs
