The granola she had forced down felt uncomfortable in her stomach— hard and nauseating, as if she'd swallowed little pebbles instead of the fortifying breakfast they usually were. Ugh. She shouldn't have had anything. Not today. Not when she was seeing Kieran again.
Selene lingers in the hallway, face hot, arms hot, hands cold, dread and longing mixing impossibly inside the cavity of her chest, head swiveling at every footstep she heard, starched shirts and black Jimmy Choo's slipping in and out of offices. Somewhere in there was Kieran.
Somewhere in there was the person she held closest to her heart. Not for the first time, Selene curses her father for having to meet in these circumstances. And not for the last time, Selene curses herself for being complicit in the betrayal of her own heart. And maybe her best friend too.
But years had passed since college— it was possible that Kieran simply didn't care. Maybe to him, she just represented the faded imprint of nostalgia. Textbooks wet with the circle of a beer can. A tight embrace before finals week. Maybe it didn't matter to Kieran she was engaged to his brother, and training her would simply be a chore rather than the marathon of pain it felt like to Selene. Maybe he barely thought of her at all these days. After all. Wasn't he essentially running a Fortune 500?
Selene tucks her fingers her fingers into her chignon for an unnecessary adjustment— it looked fine, it always looked fine when she was so careful about the imagine she cultivated. Her father made sure of that. What no amount of adjusting could fix was her heart, which sat in her chest flayed and raw and aching.












