Chapter 22 Difficult Coexistence

• Liam
• The morning after my father's disastrous birthday stretched lazily after a sleepless night, where memories of his birthday pounded in my mind long before I could finally fall asleep. I tossed and turned in bed for hours, trying to push away thoughts that stubbornly lingered.
• I slept later than usual, a luxury granted by a poorly slept night. For a moment, I lay still, pondering what to do next. The idea of avoiding Cecilia again crept into my thoughts, but the realization that I couldn't sustain this charade throughout the year of our marriage began to weigh on my conscience. Twelve months of forced cohabitation was an invasion of my privacy.