Ryan and Anna’s Story. Chapter 1

Anna’s POV

“I love you, Ryan.”

The words slipped out before I could pull them back, before I could even think about how wrong they sounded or how bad the timing was. I was just standing there in the doorway, watching him pack his suitcase, and suddenly it was out.

He paused with his hands still on his folded shirt, not turning around right away. I saw the slight clench in his jaw, the tension in his shoulders, the way his back stiffened as if my words had hit somewhere deep. He was quiet for a second longer than normal, and I stupidly thought maybe he was about to say something, anything, something that told me he’d been thinking the same.

But when he turned to face me, all I saw was the same unreadable face he always wore.

He shook his head once and said in a low voice, “Don’t say that, Anna.”

His voice wasn’t cold, or angry, just… calm. The kind of tone someone used when they were trying really hard to keep everything inside from falling