After meeting his mother, thoughts lingered in Nikolai's mind, causing him to become restless. With each step, the stairs creaked louder and louder on the way back upstairs. Nikolai wasn't in a rush, as if delaying his conformation with Selene, his steps heavy as if the weight in his chest dropped into his stomach, weighing him down.
'How do I approach her?' he thought upon returning to his room and stumbling inside with unsteady feet.
The curtains swayed from the evening breeze from the open window, a scent of salt and flowers pouring into the room as he closed the window and locked it with a sharp snap.
Nikolai gazed at his reflection in the glass before showing a bitter smile.
"I look like shit."
Not quite the young boy who played with Lunaria as a child, neither the man Selene loved. Right now, he felt like something in between, an ugly middle ground made of too many promises that he struggled to keep and not enough time to fix them all.
