The breakup—if that's what it was; neither of them had actually used the word—lasted two weeks.
Two weeks of silence. Of not texting. Of not calling. Of carefully avoiding each other in the way that's only possible in a city as big as New York where you can share the same twenty-block radius and never accidentally cross paths if you're trying hard enough.
Alessandro threw himself into work. Sixteen-hour days at the office. Business deals that kept his mind occupied. Meetings that bled into dinners that bled into late-night strategy sessions. Anything to avoid the empty apartment and the thoughts that came with silence.
But he also kept going to therapy.
Dr. Chen was relentless. Pushing. Asking questions that Alessandro didn't want to answer because the answers required him to acknowledge things about himself that were uncomfortable at best and devastating at worst.
