Home 09:00 Alex stood in the hallway, glimpsing the familiar contours of their home through the half-open door. The soft click of the lock was a promise of safety he hadn’t felt in days. Weeks, months. His heart thudded under his ribs as he carried his overnight bag, heavy with the unsaid, the unspoken, the ache he could feel in his bones. He paused, inhaling the scent of cedar that clung to the air. This was their sanctu...

The hotel lounge was full but quiet, softened by the hush of low jazz and the warm lull of intimate conversation. Leather armchairs curled around small tables, inviting confidences. The lighting was low and golden, designed to flatter, to beckon. Waiters moved soundlessly in black waistcoats, gliding with drinks and delicate plates, their presence part of the room’s elegant character. Alex arrived first. He stood at the b...

Katherine ran her fingers along the silk lining of the dress before slipping it from the hanger. Deep garnet—rich as aged wine. The colour wasn’t modest. It didn’t whisper. It declared. But the neckline, modestly cut, was the balance: seductive only to those with patience. She had chosen this dress deliberately. It had been a long time since she dressed like this for herself. The quiet of the bedroom wrapped around her. A...

The wine bar was quiet for a Thursday night. Muted jazz floated from a speaker overhead, mingling with the low hum of conversation and the occasional clink of a glass. Alex sat alone at a corner table near the window, fingers on a glass of Cognac he hadn't touched yet. He rechecked his phone, though there were no new messages. Katherine hadn't responded to the one he'd sent thirty minutes ago. 8:20 pm "We're at the wine b...

The house was dim and still. Alex sat on the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, bare feet flat against the cool wood floor. His shirt clung slightly to his back—whether from the heat or the pressure building in his chest, he couldn't be sure. His wife was preparing. He tried not to check his phone again. Tried not to look at the time. You agreed to this. You talked about it. You planned every detail, every boundary, he...

The first hint of autumn had turned the evening air cool, nudging the wine bar's patrons closer to its warm, amber-lit interior. Kay sat alone at a corner table, nursing a glass of red she barely touched, her thoughts adrift. Her eyes, though fixed on the middle distance, didn’t see the street beyond the window; they saw memories. A marriage gone cold, whispered lies, and the long, cold silence that followed. “May I?” a v...

The sun held the coastline in a breathless grip. We stepped into the beach bar, drawn by the promise of shade, sea air, and the soft clatter of cutlery on whitewashed tables. It wasn’t loud, nor was it hidden — the kind of place that whispered comfort, not glamour. Christina led me to a table tucked beneath a sun-bleached parasol, her sunglasses perched on her head, still chatting about the morning’s walk along the sandy...

It began without ceremony. No thunderclap, no lightning bolt. Just Claire—her hair tucked behind her ear, hazel eyes lingering half a second too long across the dinner table. I knew then. Not because I wanted it, but because I recognised the feeling from other lives I never lived. The slow hunger. The quiet knowing. She was my daughter-in-law. That should have made it easy to dismiss. Instead, it made everything impossibl...

The registry office was small, tucked between a solicitor's and a florist in Kensington. There were no flowers, no aisle. Just Jenny, in a cream wrap dress, and Alex, in a simple navy suit, standing before a registrar and a couple of required witnesses — one from HR, one from accounts. Jenny held his hand with steady fingers. She didn’t need fireworks or violins. Just him. "Do you, Jennifer Louise Martin, take Alexander J...

By late Friday afternoon, the office had thinned, tension softened by the promise of two days free of meetings, reports, and fluorescent lights. Someone had floated the idea of “a quick one” at the pub — the same one as always, two streets away, like a ritual. Jenny hadn’t confirmed. Neither had Alex. But Carole had been quick to suggest it out loud. “I could murder a gin and tonic,” she said, stretching theatrically as s...

The morning after I'm back in the real world already,? she thought, a flicker of disappointment passing through her. She pulled the sheet around herself and sat there momentarily, unsure how she felt. There was no note, no text, just… gone. But then, her phone buzzed on the bedside table as if on cue. Alex: Had to grab a clean shirt and coffee before the office. Didn’t want to wake you — you looked too good asleep. But I’...

Alex was lying on her bed again—not by accident or invitation, but because Jenny had guided him there like she had everything else: quiet, confident, certain. His shirt lay forgotten on the floor, his trousers halfway undone, and still, he looked like he wasn’t sure if he’d earned his place. Jenny stood at the foot of the bed, wine glass in hand, silhouetted by the soft amber light. She wasn’t naked — not yet. That was to...

The pub had that familiar hum — low voices, clinks of glasses, and the occasional burst of laughter from the far end where a group from HR had clearly started early. It was just gone six, and the five of them had spilt out from the office after a particularly dry client call that had dragged into late afternoon. A drink was more than earned — it was a requirement. Alex was already at the bar, the curve of his shoulders re...

It was the silence that convinced me. Not the hush of sleep, but the kind of silence that vibrates behind the ribs — a hollow, humid absence of human things. No engines, no phones, no voices. Just wind dragging across the sand like fingers through silk. I coughed, sea salt cracking on my lips. My tongue tasted of blood and brine. My skin felt like it belonged to someone else. I was sprawled face-down on a shore I couldn't...

Peter barely moved. She stirred only slightly—an almost imperceptible shift of breath, the gentle flutter of her eyelashes against his chest. Her fingers tightened for a second in his side before relaxing again. Then came the slow stretch of her leg, the slow uncurling of her body like she was blooming under sunlight. He smiled, the kind of smile that came from somewhere too deep to fake. Emily’s head tilted up, her eyes...