After the night’s team and silence

I woke with the kind of clarity that lands like impact.

For a few seconds, I stayed still, staring at the dim ceiling while the weight of realization settled into my chest. I hadn’t taken an emergency contraceptive. And I hadn’t done my Depo injection either. I had reminded myself after the shower that I took last night but I was too distracted by Vic.

Slowly, I reached into the nightstand drawer and felt for the packet. It was still there as I knew it would be. I peeled it open quietly, tipped the pill into my mouth, and took several sips of water to swallow it. Only after it went down did I allow myself to breathe fully.

Then I got up and headed to the closet. I gathered the Depo injection kit and an alcohol pad then headed into the bathroom. I cleaned an area on my abdomen with the alcohol pad, waited for the area to dry, then administered the medication with practiced steadiness. When it was done, I capped the pen and dropped it into the sharps container beneath the sink.

Routine steadied my hands. It didn’t steady my thoughts.

I brushed my teeth and studied my reflection without much expression. Nothing on my face gave anything away. I turned off the light and walked back into the bedroom to throw on an oversized shirt.

Vic was waking up.

He shifted beneath the sheets, eyes barely open when they found me. “Good morning,” he murmured.

“Morning,” I said. I stayed near the doorway. “Do you want coffee?”

“Yeah,” he said after a moment. “I’ll be down in a few. Just need to shower before heading to work.”

He stood and crossed the room. At the bathroom door, he paused and glanced back at me.

“Oh—Mike gave me my sweats back. He washed them.”

“That’s good,” I said.

The door shut then the shower turned on. I left the room.

Downstairs, the kitchen felt stripped bare in the early hour. I filled the coffee machine with water, added the grounds, and pressed the button. The mechanical whir cut through the quiet.

I opened the refrigerator and pulled out the food Aditi had brought the night before. I set two of them on the counter and didn’t bother reheating anything. I ate cold, straight from containers—rice and vegetables first, then butter chicken. The flavors were sharper without being heated up.

The coffee finished brewing. I poured two mugs—his black and mine light and sweet. Steam curled up against my face as I took a drink.

Upstairs, water continued to run through the pipes but stopped just a moment later.

By the time footsteps sounded on the stairs, I had finished eating and rinsed the containers. Vic entered the kitchen in his freshly washed sweats, hair still damp, posture easy. He picked up his mug without asking.

“You already ate?” he asked.

“Aditi’s leftovers,” I said. “Didn’t feel like waiting.”

He nodded and took a sip. “Thanks for the coffee.”

We stood there in silence—close, familiar, untouched. The kind of quiet that could mean comfort or distance depending on how long it lasted.

The doorbell cut through the quiet of the kitchen, sharp and out of place against the low hum of the refrigerator. I glanced toward the hallway, still holding my half-finished mug of coffee.

“I’ll get it,” Vic said, already pushing away from the counter. His mug made a soft clink as he set it beside mine.

“Alright,” I said, still leaning against the counter where I’d been eating the cold leftovers from the food that Aditi had brought the night before. I watched him walk away.

He disappeared around the corner, and seconds later, I heard the front door opened.

Mike’s voice came through immediately—tense, too loud for the morning.

“She’s  really not answering my texts now?” Mike snapped.

Vic’s reply was low but sharp enough to carry. “She’s not doing this with you. You promised me last night—you said you’d move.”

“I offered,” Mike fired back. “Depending on what she wants. Did you even ask her? Or are you just deciding everything for her because you’re playing fucking hero now?”

The words landed like a slap. I froze with my mug halfway to my mouth.

I set it down quietly on the counter and stepped out of the kitchen, my bare feet silent against the floor. I moved toward the living room, the argument sharpening as I got closer.

Vic stepped forward. “I’m not playing anything. You broke her trust. You put her in danger and almost brought him to her. Don’t pretend this isn’t complicated.”

“So ask her,” Mike shot back. “Ask her if she wants me gone. Or are you afraid of the answer?”

That was when I reached them.

I walked up behind Vic—close enough to see the tension in his shoulders, the clean line of his back, the fact that he really wasn’t wearing a shirt—and spoke before either of them realized I was there.

“I do.”

Both of them turned. Vic blinked, startled. Mike’s mouth pulled tight, like he already knew what I was going to say but hoped I wouldn’t say it out loud.

I met Mike’s eyes without flinching. “Yes. I want you to move. I don’t want daily reminders of how you broke my trust. And I’m not going to live next to someone who’s related to my former stalker and who knew but didn’t have the balls to say anything to me about it. You should go.”

Mike swallowed hard, anger and guilt fighting in his expression. “You really feel that way?”

“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.”

I didn’t wait for either of their reactions. I turned and walked back into the kitchen, the smell of coffee warming the air as I picked up my mug again.

Behind me, I heard Mike exhale sharply. “Fine,” he muttered. “But answer something first.”

There was a beat—a long, quiet stretch of air before he asked:

“Do you love her?”

Vic didn’t even pause. His voice was steady, firm. “Of course I do. Why else would I be here?”

I didn’t hear Mike’s response. His voice dropped too low, swallowed by the hallway. But I heard the door close—solid, final—followed by footsteps retreating down the porch.

Then silence.

A moment later, Vic shuffled back into the kitchen. I didn’t turn until I heard him stop beside me, the warmth of his presence replacing the cold morning air.

“Mi amore,” he whispered as he wrapped me up tight in his arms, pulling me close to his bare chest. “Do you want me to stay here with you? I can call out.”

“I’ll text my friend Darnell to see if he can spare anyone or even himself,” I said muffled against his chest. “Do you really love me, Papa?”

“Darnell’s the cop, right?” he asked. “Yes, I do, amore.”

“Yeah, he is,” I said. “Same.”

We stayed in that hug for a long time before he let go.

“Alright, amore,” he sighed. “I need to head to work. I’ll check in on throughout the day, ok?”

“Ok, Papa,” I said.

We broke from the hug and I watched him head upstairs to finish getting ready for work. As he was getting ready, I made him more coffee for him and put it in a travel tumbler and packed leftover food from Aditi. He came down a few minutes later.

“What’s all this?” he asked with that sexy smile of his.

“Fresh coffee and food,” I said. “You need the energy to keep going throughout the day. You put in overtime last night.”

“Thank you, amore,” he said as he kissed me. “I’ll be in touch later.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. “Sounds good. Thank you for spending the night.”

Vic kissed me once more then left. I texted Darnell what the situation was and he said that he’d be right over. I thanked him and then cleaned up the kitchen.