Chapter 161
~ Octavia ~
A few days had passed since I moved back in with my parents in their cozy Soho apartment. The quiet rhythm of home—my mother's gentle humming in the kitchen, my father's occasional laughter at the evening news, and Nola's soft purrs—had begun to soothe some of the chaos still swirling inside me. One afternoon, my mother casually mentioned that Franklin had come by while I was asleep. He had left gifts and told them he was traveling out of the country for a business trip to Bogotá.
