Unspoken Tension

The days had settled into a routine again at Lee Enterprises, but things were far from being the same between Hunter and Amelia. Ever since the incident where she collapsed and woke up in a panic, mumbling about things Hunter couldn’t quite piece together, something had shifted between them—something subtle, but undeniably present.

Hunter found it increasingly difficult to maintain the professional distance he once upheld so strictly. Before, it had been easy to be stern, to demand perfection, and to keep things strictly business. But now, every time he felt frustration bubbling up, an image would flash in his mind—Amelia, lying on the office floor, clutching the file with frail hands. Her broken pleas echoed in his memory, words laced with fear and anguish that went beyond mere work stress.

It made him hesitate, made him softer in ways he didn’t quite understand. He noticed things about her he hadn’t before—the faint shadow under her eyes that concealer couldn’t fully hide, the