“Whenever my mom would tuck me into bed at night, she’d kiss me on the forehead.” Phoenix looks away, withdrawing into himself. “No matter how shitty the day was, she always ended it with, ‘I love you, my rara avis’ and then a forehead kiss…until she left.” He exhales heavily. “I held on to those memories, though because it’s the only time I ever felt loved. But that love eroded into pain. And the longer she was gone, the more it hurt.” His eyes find mine. “I didn’t want to get attached to another woman, because the one woman who was never supposed to break my heart smashed it into a thousand
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