ANNIKA SHUFFLED PAPERS, finished her lesson plans and put them into her bag. She threw in her sneakers for her shift at the bar. She’d just eat something at the bar today. Mrs. P. was on a mission to get Annika to eat more, but she simply hadn’t had much of an appetite since that day in the hospital. Since Daniel left her.

She glanced at her reflection in the mirror by the door and pulled out some lipstick. Dark circles under her eyes advertised her lack of sleep. She applied the lipstick, vowing to stop being such a cliché and eat to Mrs. P.’s satisfaction whether she felt like it or not. Not eating and not sleeping were not going to convince Daniel that he’d made a mistake. No one could do that except Daniel himself.

Why she couldn’t fall for normal, stable people was beyond her. The emptiness in her heart and gut were proof of her misguided feelings and had, many times during the past week, threatened to overcome her. But she had a class to teach, lesson plans to write, not to mention her parents were staying with her so they could be closer to the hospital. Whenever she had a minute, she went to see her brother.

She didn’t have time to grieve over the fact that she thought she’d found her one true love but he turned out to be just another man who’d left her at the moment she needed him most. That he was lost in his own grief. That he wasn’t hers anymore. The familiar burn prickled her eyes and nose. She closed her eyes and fought it back.

Daniel was just another failed relationship. Just another boyfriend. Just another someone she’d fallen for who’d decided she wasn’t enough. She made poor decisions when it came to love, and it was time she listened to the people who really did love her. Her parents. Naya. Maybe she’d call Sajan in a week or two. She just couldn’t handle anything right now.

These were the lies she told herself to get herself out of bed and back into her life.

“You don’t have to work at the bar.” Her father was having his chai. Even the familiar aroma of the cardamom and cinnamon failed to comfort her shattered heart. Her parents had taken over Naya’s room, and Naya had gone home to visit her parents. Her mother had insisted upon spending the night at the hospital, and her father was on his way to relieve her. Though Nilay was out of danger, they needed to be with him. This was what they did.

“Yes, I do, Papa.” She needed the money but left that fact unsaid, hanging between them.

“It’s dangerous.”

“I’m fine, Papa.” She forced the irritation out of her voice. Her parents had enough to deal with right now.