I tried, with what little strength I had left, to focus on the open book in front of me. The text was the same as before, but it felt like my eyes simply couldn’t absorb the words. I’d been stuck on the same page for over an hour. The evening light filtered through the window of our apartment, painting everything in soft gold, but to me, that glow only reminded me how long she’d been ignoring me.

Guest was acting as if I didn't exist, as if my presence was a mere shadow in the corners. I watched her, my breath getting heavier every time she passed near me, walking to the kitchen, back to the bedroom. Nothing. No words, no glance, no gesture.

She had been like this since last night, when I said something about her coming home too late. I hadn’t meant it in anger — just worry. I was so scared because she hadn’t answered any of my messages. I didn’t know where she was, who she was with, or if something had happened. I just wanted to know she was okay. But to her, that was an offense. She told me, with her usual coldness, that I was nothing to her, that I had no right to ask for explanations.

I stood slowly, not knowing what to do, but feeling like I had to try. I clutched the book to my chest. I walked into the kitchen, cautiously approaching her. She was rinsing a mug — her mug. Just hers. She didn’t look at me, didn’t say a word. I stood there, by the doorway, feeling the weight of her indifference, trying to find some way to break the ice.

“I… do you want me to make dinner tonight?” I asked softly, my voice almost timid. I tried to sound useful, like that could somehow undo what happened. But she didn’t even glance at me. She just turned her back and walked to the bedroom, without a word. Without even a pause.

I stood there for a while, my body tense, trying to understand what was happening — but I couldn’t. So I just went back to the living room, sat on the couch again, trapped in that deafening silence.

It was night when I finally gained the courage to to talk to her.

“I know you’re still upset with me,” I murmured, hoping — with a tiny shred of hope — that she’d say something. Anything. But the silence persisted, and all I could hear was the sound of her fingers sliding across the screen, with no sign that she even heard me.

“If there’s something I can do to fix this… anything…” My voice faltered. I tried to sound steady, but it came out weak, almost begging. “Just… tell me, please.”

Nothing. She didn’t answer. Just kept scrolling through her phone, so absorbed in her world that my presence might as well not exist. And I… I stayed there, eyes on the floor, the knot growing tighter. The tears started to sting, but I refused to let them fall. I wouldn’t do that. I didn’t want her to see me on the verge of breaking.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, almost inaudibly. “For everything.”

Maybe, to her, my insecurity was just more proof that I wasn’t enough. Maybe she was tired of seeing me like this — begging, waiting for something that never came. But I stayed. I endured. I kept holding on, because it was her. Because deep down, all I really wanted… was for her to talk to me. Just that.