Ross looked up at her. For just a moment—just half a heartbeat—there was something unreadable in his eyes. But then he smiled, gentle and composed, like he always did.
"I see. It's fine," he replied easily. "All good things have to end eventually."
He leaned back in his chair, relaxed, unaffected, as though her words had no emotional weight.
As though losing her presence didn't change anything.
"I guess I'll be alone reading here on Wednesdays again. Doesn't matter. I'm used to it anyway," he added with a small shrug.
His tone was so casual, so natural, that it almost hurt. Marissa expected… sadness, disappointment, something that showed she mattered.
But Ross simply moved on.
"So, what do you think about this book?" he asked, smoothly shifting the topic. "I feel that the author is trying to highlight how…"
And he talked—just like before. Calm. Steady. Unbothered.
Marissa answered automatically.
