The fork slipped from Sarah's fingers, clattering softly against the porcelain edge of her plate before coming to a complete rest. Her appetite, which had been meager to begin with, vanished entirely, replaced by a cold, heavy knot that tightened in the pit of her stomach. She froze, her eyebrows knitting together in a mask of profound, utterly bewildered confusion.
For a long moment, the dining room was suffocatingly quiet. She stared at the man sitting across from her, wondering if she had misheard or if he had lost his mind. When the sheer absurdity of his words finally registered, a harsh, humorless scoff escaped her lips.
"What—what on earth do you mean by that?" she stammered, her voice a mix of disbelief and rising defensive anger.
