Monday arrives and I'm grateful for it in a way that probably says something unflattering about my weekend.
I'm out of the house before eight, dressed, bag packed, Liang Feng already waiting by the car without needing to be called. The morning is gray and cool, the kind that hasn't decided yet whether it wants to rain, and I stand outside for maybe ten seconds breathing air that doesn't smell like the estate before getting in.
I spend most of it staring out the window and purposely not thinking about Saturday.
Or Sunday, which I spent almost entirely in my room, eating meals Mrs. Wen brought up because going downstairs felt like a bad idea.
Not because of any specific reason I could defend out loud. Just because the run happened, and the kiss happened, and Bael said *I think I've been giving you too much space* in a voice that sounded like something decided, and I've been trying to put distance between myself and that sentence ever since.
Work helps.
