100

I sighed once more. My gaze was fixed on the ceiling of my room, illuminated only by the moonlight filtering through the window. One of my hands was stretched across the bed, and the other rested on my stomach.

I took deep breaths with each inhalation, my pillow smelled like him...

My father had prepared an exquisite dinner for us a few hours earlier, but I didn't have much of an appetite. I truly couldn't understand what had happened that afternoon.

What the hell had happened? I still felt bewildered. Why had he left like that? I tried to explain why I couldn't accept the engagement now, that I didn't feel prepared. Why couldn't he understand that?

I rolled onto my right side. I faced the wall. I wanted to call him, to fix everything, to tell him I loved him, that I desired him...

I tensed up.

"I love you," those words echoed in my head. He had never said he loved me before.

I kicked my feet on the bed. Why did he have to say it now? Damn it, why so much pressure?

I took a deep breat