Page 50 of Siren Problems
This is worse.
“Inventory day?” I ask warily.
“Emotional inventory,” she says cheerfully, patting the bar next to her. “And surprise! You’re the featured item.”
“Oh gods, no.”
“Oh gods, yes.” She tosses a sticker at me that saysCursed by Feelings.“Come on. Sit. Be emotionally vulnerable. Or at least pretend until you accidentally start healing.”
I sigh and sit, because resistance is futile and Kai once threatened to have Mira hex my pants to squeal every time I lied.
She slides a cocktail toward me. It’s pink. It’s sparkling. It smells like honesty and poor decisions.
“I call it the ‘Heartbreaker Spritz.’ It makes you feel brave and vaguely guilty about your choices. Drink.”
I do. Because I’m tired and my defenses are low and honestly? If anyone’s going to hold up a mirror to my bullshit, it might as well be someone wearing seafoam eyeliner and sarcasm as a second language.
Kai twirls a pen. “Let’s begin with a diagnostic. On a scale of one to ‘I’m fine’ said while actively crying in a supply closet, how emotionally stable are you today?”
“I haven’t cried inthissupply closet yet,” I mutter.
“Progress!” she chirps. “Now. Talk to me about the sea prince.”
I groan. “Do we have to?”
She gives me a look.
The kind that saysyes, you idiot, that’s why I dragged you here and fed you a truth potion cocktail.
So I exhale. “He’s gone. Again.”
“After sex?”
“Yup.”
She hisses. “Oof. That’s the emotional equivalent of ghosting someone after they save your life and also see your weird birthmark.”
“He doesn’t do feelings. Or mornings. Or communication.”
“But you still want him,” she says softly.
I stare into my drink.
“Yeah.”
Kai swings her legs, voice gentler now. “So what hurts more—him leaving, or the fact that you almost expected it?”
That one gets me.
Because yeah, Ididexpect it. Some part of me always does.
That quiet voice that whispers,don’t get used to good things, they have an expiration date.
It’s not new. Just... sharper now.
“I thought maybe this time,” I say slowly, “he’d stay.”
“Because you let him in.”
