A stabbing pain flared in my lower back as I fell and the ringing in my ears subsided.
I gasped for air and glanced back, only to find the violin case toppled over, its delicate strings now crushed beneath the chaos.
But almost instantly, her expression shifted again, her face morphing into an image of fragile innocence.
She stumbled toward me, her body trembling and her voice shaking.
"Coach Claire, I... I didn’t mean to! I didn’t want to..."
A wry smile tugged at the corner of my lips. Without a word, I pushed her away gently, my gaze locking onto hers with a quiet, hollow pity.
The room fell into a heavy silence. At last, Lennon was unable to sit by any longer.
He walked toward me. Sliding an arm around me, he tucked my disheveled hair behind my ear and gently pressed my lower back with his other hand.
"Does it hurt here? Or anywhere else?" he asked softly, leaning in close enough that his breath brushed against my skin, causing a goosebump.
In a moment of daze, I foolishly believed that Lennon Sullivan's tenderness still belonged to me. That all his recent irritations were just his way of wanting me to take him more seriously.