Is she hiding something from me?

Jade

The golden hues of the setting sun spilled across the polished hardwood floor of our new apartment, bathing it in a warm glow that should have felt welcoming. But the air held a strange tension, like the stillness before a storm. I zipped up the last of my suitcases, the fabric straining against the bulk of hastily folded clothes. A glance around confirmed the practical sterility of the place—impersonal yet oddly comforting with its ready-made homeliness. All we needed were our belongings, and I had just finished transferring mine into this anonymous space that would soon echo the patterns of our lives.

Taking a breath to steady the fluttering in my chest—a curious mix of excitement and an unnamed dread—I crossed the threshold into Lee's room, the door creaking softly on its hinges as if reluctant to reveal its occupant's secrets. There she was, Lee, framed by the window, her silhouette etched against the canvas of a city we were yet to call home. Her eyes, those windows to a sou