Maria did not remember how she left the shop.
Whether she walked or ran, she could not have said. Her body moved on its own, carried forward by a storm she could not contain. The door had slammed behind her at some point.. she dimly registered the sound but her mind was already elsewhere. Heat burned behind her eyes, her chest tight enough that every breath felt sharp.
She wiped at her tears with the back of her hand, quick and impatient, but they refused to stop. The more she tried to force them away, the more they came, blurring the streets before her into streaks of color and light. She hated that. Hated that she was crying in public. Hated that she had let him see her like that. Hated most of all that he had looked at her so calmly while she shattered in front of him.. And hated how he treated and behaved towards her when she showed him her most vonurable side.
