The Only Exception

5. Shared Walls

Asi didn't move.

She watched, breath caught somewhere between her lungs and throat.

His tattoo — the one on arm, the sharp lines curling into something both brutal and beautiful — shifted with every rep. His long fingers curled tightly around the dumbbells. She remembered those fingers. How they'd held her hair. How they'd grazed her back in the dark. How they'd...

She swallowed.

Her thighs pressed together unconsciously.

Alaz noticed her presence then and set the weights down slowly, careful not to make noise.

"What is it?" he asked, catching his breath.

Asi blinked. Her mouth opened. Nothing came out.

She looked at his shoulders, then his chest, then those damn fingers again. Then quickly looked away.

"Umm. I wanted to ask..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Umm..."

Alaz tilted his head. "Yes?"

She cleared her throat. "The Zafer project. When's the deadline?"

Alaz walked over to the small fridge in the corner and grabbed a bottle of water. He cracked it open and took a sip, then said, "It's not confirmed, but we'll need to respond sometime this week."

Asi nodded. "Okay. That's it. Thanks."

She turned on her heel and exited, too fast, too obvious.

In the hallway, she leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

What the hell was that?

She felt hot all over, skin flushed. Her fingers trembled slightly as she ran them through her hair. Was it just hormones? Was that how this worked? Was this pregnancy, or just Alaz being... Alaz?

She didn't know.

She just knew her body felt like it was lit from the inside, and he was the spark.

She walked a little farther, trying to breathe, trying to cool down. Her steps carried her past his office — the door half-closed — and something pulled her inside.

Just for a second.

She didn't touch anything. Didn't move far.

But she saw the photograph on his desk. A woman — blonde, bright-eyed, a huge smile that reminded her of no one. Alaz's mother.

So full of life, it hurt.

And beside her, in a much smaller frame, the ultrasound.

Their ultrasound.

The first image of the little bean growing inside her.

Asi's throat tightened. Her hands curled into fists.

He'd kept it there. On his desk. Next to his mother.

No fanfare. No show.

Just there. Quiet. Reverent.

She felt tears sting her eyes and blinked them away.

*

Night had settled deep and velvet across the windows, cloaking the apartment in quiet shadows. The lights were dim. Music played low from Asi's room — something soft and jazzy, the kind of music that made you want to dance barefoot in the kitchen or kiss someone slowly.

Alaz had disappeared again.

So she wandered.

Not with purpose, just... movement. She couldn't sleep. Her body was humming — overstimulated from nothing and everything. Her brain wouldn't shut off. She was craving something. Maybe food. Maybe touch. Maybe air.