Seraphina's Point Of View
The office felt tighter than usual, as if the walls themselves had shifted closer overnight. Or perhaps my nerves were simply pulling everything inward, compressing the familiar space into something smaller, more suffocating.
"Ma'am… you've checked that file three times," Rose observed, leaning lightly against the edge of my desk. Her arms folded across her chest, and she wore that knowing look, the one she always adopted when she was about to tease me mercilessly.
I didn't glance up as I flipped the page again, my eyes scanning words I'd already memorized. "I know."
"Then why are you still checking it?" Her voice carried a note of gentle amusement.
"Because if I don't, my brain will convince me I've forgotten something important." I tapped the paper once more, as if it might confess secrets I'd somehow overlooked.
Rose snorted, a sound somewhere between sympathy and exasperation. "You're overthinking."
