Stephanie's POV
It was just innocent teasing. I was just trying to take revenge when I said those words, but the silence that this dinner had turned into was a nightmare. Cliff didn't reply to my words—he went stiff, focusing on cutting up the meat into small bite-sized pieces and exchanging his plate with mine.
The awkward silence only grew while his only words were telling me to eat, and I did. I didn't know what else to do other than feel this sudden shift in the air—the suffocation as he kept being gentle, offering me things, but any other talk like before was gone.
