She doesn't look away when she answers.
"No. We are nothing. We're just colleagues."
The air I was holding in my lungs comes out without me noticing.
It's not total relief, but it's something. I watch her for a second longer, looking for cracks. Doubts. Something that contradicts her words. I can't find them.
Then the question that burned me all night comes out on its own.
"And the flowers?"
She barely blinks.
"He wanted to have a nice gesture with me."
I clench my jaw.
A nice gesture.
"It looked like a date," I blurted out before measuring my tone.
Her eyes widen with genuine surprise.
"No. It wasn't... I didn't know he was going to my apartment."
The image returns again. The door opening... She smiling before she sees me.
That's what hurt me the most.
Not Alexander, not th
