I woke to unfamiliar ceiling lights.<\/p>\n
My cheek throbbed with a hot, sharp ache.<\/p>\n
The memory crashed back. Miles’ hand. The slap. The auditorium floor.<\/p>\n
I was in Noah’s bedroom.<\/p>\n
The sheets smelled like cedar and soap, nothing like the scent I’d shared<\/p>\n
with Miles for five years.<\/p>\n
My body felt heavy, like I’d been beaten with more than just a hand.<\/p>\n
Every muscle ached with exhaustion.<\/p>\n
The door creaked open.<\/p>\n
Noah entered with a tray, his eyes immediately finding mine.<\/p>\n
“You’re awake.” He set down the tray and sat beside me.<\/p>\n
His fingers gently touched the swollen side of my face.<\/p>\n
“This needs more ice.”<\/p>\n
I flinched at his touch, then felt stupid for it.<\/p>\n
Noah’s jaw tightened, but his voice stayed soft.<\/p>\n
“He will never touch you again.”<\/p>\n
It wasn’t a question. It was a promise.<\/p>\n
I tried to sit up. The room spun.<\/p>\n
“Take it slow.” He supported my back with his hand.<\/p>\n
His palm was warm against my spine. Stable.<\/p>\n
Not like Miles’ grip, which always felt like control wearing a mask of<\/p>\n
affection.<\/p>\n
Noah handed me a glass of water.<\/p>\n
My hands trembled so badly I nearly spilled it.<\/p>\n
He steadied the glass, guiding it to my lips.<\/p>\n
“Drink.”<\/p>\n
The water was cool. It helped the tightness in my throat.<\/p>\n
My phone buzzed from the nightstand.<\/p>\n
Noah’s eyes darkened.<\/p>\n
“It’s been ringing every ten minutes.”<\/p>\n
I didn’t need to look. I understood.<\/p>\n
“He says if you don’t come home now, you’ll regret it.”<\/p>\n
Home. That word didn’t mean what it used to.<\/p>\n
“He says you’re being childish. That you’re embarrassing yourself.”<\/p>\n
Noah’s voice was level, but I heard the anger underneath.<\/p>\n
I picked up the phone.<\/p>\n
Seven missed calls. Fourteen text messages.<\/p>\n
All from Miles.<\/p>\n
The most recent one glowed on the screen: “You’re testing my patience,<\/p>\n
Bianca. Get back here.”<\/p>\n
I turned the phone over, face down on the blanket.<\/p>\n
“He thinks he owns you,” Noah said quietly.<\/p>\n
“He’s used to it.”<\/p>\n
I hadn’t meant to say it out loud.<\/p>\n
The admission made my stomach clench.<\/p>\n
Noah took the phone from<\/p>\n
my<\/p>\n
hand.<\/p>\n
“You need rest, not threats.”<\/p>\n
He stood and walked to the window.<\/p>\n
The afternoon light cut across his face, showing the strain around his<\/p>\n
He’d been watching over me.<\/p>\n
For how long?<\/p>\n
Suddenly, shouting echoed from the street below.<\/p>\n
I recognized that voice, even muffled by glass.<\/p>\n
Eva.<\/p>\n
Noah pulled back the curtain.<\/p>\n
A small crowd had gathered outside his building.<\/p>\n
Eva stood in the center, her hands cupped around her mouth.<\/p>\n
“Bianca!” she screamed. “I know you’re up there!”<\/p>\n
My blood turned cold.<\/p>\n
Noah’s hand found mine.<\/p>\n
“Stay here.”<\/p>\n
But I was already moving to the window.<\/p>\n
Eva looked up, her eyes scanning the building.<\/p>\n
When she spotted movement at our window, she pointed.<\/p>\n
“Homewrecker!” she yelled.<\/p>\n
The crowd turned, murmuring.<\/p>\n
“She’s trying to steal my life!” Eva’s voice broke with practiced sobs.<\/p>\n
“She thinks she can just take everything I worked for!”<\/p>\n
The words hit me like physical blows.<\/p>\n
My breath came faster.<\/p>\n
Noah tried to pull me back.<\/p>\n
“Don’t listen to her.”<\/p>\n
eyes.<\/p>\n
But I couldn’t stop hearing Miles’ voice in my head, overlapping with hers.<\/p>\n
Childish. Embarrassing. Selfish.<\/p>\n
My chest constricted.<\/p>\n
The room tilted.<\/p>\n
I grabbed the windowsill, but my fingers couldn’t seem to hold on.<\/p>\n
Noah caught me as my knees buckled.<\/p>\n
“Bianca?”<\/p>\n
I couldn’t answer.<\/p>\n
Air. I needed air.<\/p>\n
But my lungs wouldn’t cooperate.<\/p>\n
They seized up, refusing to take in more than tiny sips.<\/p>\n
My heart hammered against my ribs, each beat painful and wrong.<\/p>\n
Noah lowered me to the floor.<\/p>\n
His voice came from far away.<\/p>\n
“Breathe with me.”<\/p>\n
He placed my hand on his chest.<\/p>\n
“Feel this. In. Out.”<\/p>\n
The steady rise and fall beneath my palm was the only solid thing in my<\/p>\n
spinning world.<\/p>\n
“In. Out.”<\/p>\n
I tried to match it.<\/p>\n
My vision blurred with tears I wouldn’t let fall.<\/p>\n
Not for them.<\/p>\n
Not anymore.<\/p>\n
Noah’s hand covered mine, pressing it against his heartbeat.<\/p>\n
“You’re safe here.”<\/p>\n
Safe. The word felt foreign.<\/p>\n
Tears streamed down my face now, hot and uncontrollable.<\/p>\n
Noah didn’t tell me to stop crying.<\/p>\n
He didn’t tell me I was being dramatic.<\/p>\n
He just held me, his chest solid beneath my hand, his breathing guiding<\/p>\n
mine.<\/p>\n
My phone buzzed again on the nightstand.<\/p>\n
Neither of us moved to check it.<\/p>\n
After several minutes, my breathing steadied.<\/p>\n
The panic receded, leaving only exhaustion.<\/p>\n
Noah helped me back to the bed.<\/p>\n
He tucked the blanket around me with the same care he’d shown when<\/p>\n
treating my injuries.<\/p>\n
The doorbell rang.<\/p>\n
Not the building’s intercom. The actual door to his apartment.<\/p>\n
Eva’s voice, closer now, filtered through the wood.<\/p>\n
“I know you’re in there, you homewrecking bitch!”<\/p>\n
Her fist pounded against the door.<\/p>\n
“You think you can just steal everything I worked for?”<\/p>\n
The sound echoed through the apartment.<\/p>\n
Noah stood between me and the door, his shoulders set.<\/p>\n
He looked back at me, his expression softening.<\/p>\n
“Stay here.”<\/p>\n
I nodded, pulling the blanket tighter.<\/p>\n
Outside, Eva’s voice rose higher.<\/p>\n
“Open this door, Bianca!”<\/p>\n
“You’re not taking him from me!”<\/p>\n
The pounding continued, rhythmic and desperate.<\/p>\n
Each impact felt like it was hitting my ribs instead of the door.<\/p>\n
Noah walked toward the entrance, his steps calm.<\/p>\n
He placed his hand on the doorknob.<\/p>\n
“Bianca.”<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
“This ends today.”<\/p>\n
He turned the lock.<\/p>\n
Eva’s screaming flooded the apartment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I woke to unfamiliar ceiling lights. My cheek throbbed with a hot, sharp ache. The memory crashed back. Miles’ hand. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-one-side-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23141"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23151,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23141\/revisions\/23151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}