SOPHIE
I'm still lying on my bed two hours later, staring at the ceiling and replaying every moment from today.
Nathan's face when he walked into the community center and saw me. The way he asked if I *lived* there, like volunteering was some kind of punishment instead of something I chose. His half-hearted apology that felt more like an obligation than actual remorse.
But it's the other moments that keep circling back. The ones I can't quite figure out.
The way he got frustrated when I stayed professional. Like my calm was somehow worse than if I'd yelled at him or broken down. The questions he kept asking—*Why do you volunteer here? How long have you been doing this?*—like he was trying to solve some puzzle he didn't understand.
And that moment when I showed him how to mince garlic.
