Fated to The Gorgeous

anding frozen like a porcelain doll with hairlin

endless rhythm of time-but to her, it felt like centuri

let him witness her collapse. With painstaking deliberation, she loosened her grip on her

eart. It was as if Chasel had dissolved into nothingness, becoming a ghost she could walk through without a

with each heartbeat as her body sought escape where her pride demanded dignity. She had barely covered any distance when his voice-that voice she

rifying moment, she teetered on the edge of collapse. Then, with a surge of desper

eyed at the roadside, she existed in a void where pain and numbness collided. The curious glances of strangers

outward from her chest, a toxic bloom spreading through her veins. With lowered eyes that concealed o

already settled in for the night. Their eager

nfess to your crus

icially in love now

hat happened t

f in the bathroom. She cranked the faucet to full blast, letting the rushing water drown out the sound of her world collapsing

alive in the cold earth of rejection,

had drawn its first breath, lay defe

-

m his sight, and Elena obeyed with the

ansformation from child to woman. Having lived with her grandmother since middle school, Ele

ing like sugar in rain. Four years passed in New York City,

in parallel universes. Now, with four years and thousands of miles betw

-

ed suffocatingly hot, the air thick wi

age. Two minutes in the oppressive heat left her dren

dormitory, she abandoned the package unopened, prioritizing the

cision, then climbed into bed to finish the movie she'd abandoned earlier. As the credits rolled, exhaustion claimed her. Noting the c

nto oblivion. Only the persistent ringing of her phone-an unwelcome in