Seraphine had never really understood what people meant when they talked about dating, like it was some kind of shared language everyone else spoke fluently while she stood on the outside, watching, trying to piece together rules that never made sense to her.
All her life, her world had revolved around one man, her attention fixed so completely on him that she never once stopped to consider the feelings of anyone else, never once cared about the hearts quietly breaking in the background, even when the one she loved gave her nothing in return.
Now that it was over in a way that left no room for illusion, something inside her had shut down, locked itself away behind walls she had no intention of lowering anytime soon.
Still, she wasn't blind to what it felt like to love alone, to pour everything into someone who would never give the same back, and that understanding stirred a quiet, reluctant sympathy in her chest when she looked at Augustine.
