Chapter 25 - 24 : The Mother and Daughter
Celeste’s POV
I woke up with a strange tightness in my chest.
Not pain, exactly. Just a weight. Like something had shifted during the night, and the air had forgotten how to be light.
I sat up in bed, the sunlight filtering through the curtains too warm, too bright. My room looked the same as always—pristine, clean, curated. But it felt wrong. The silence was deeper than usual. Almost expectant.
Lately, everything felt like that.
Ever since Uncle Elliot came back.
He wasn’t someone I had grown up with. He’d been away for most of my childhood, always on "business trips," always too busy for birthdays or holidays. I barely knew him.
And yet, he came back acting like family mattered to him. Like he had always been around. Like we should be grateful.
Something about him always rubbed me the wrong way. The way he smiled too long. The way his eyes lingered on people like he was imagining things he shouldn’t. The way his voice dipped when he talked to Mother.
He proposed to her.
I don’t even know if he did it seriously or just to make a statement.