By now, Juniper felt as if she was being suffocated by the weight of the building above her, completely torn from what she was used to being.

“My God, this man,” she thought, and as soon as she was about to self-talk a negative comment about how maybe he was planning on leaving on short notice again…

Daniel acknowledged her…

It wasn’t with his words and maybe not even actions. He looked over at her after sitting still in his chair for a few seconds after looking up from a folder, the scent of aged paper and forgotten secrets hanging in the air around them.

And he looked at her

In one context, it was like an awkward look by a stranger in public who just decided not to look away because they were nuts.

But this was different.

He just looked at her, eyes slightly squinted, teeth and lips together, relaxed, almost looking into her eyes and at the rest of her all at once. She could feel the intensity of his gaze, the way it seemed to register her completely… not just who she pretended to be in this basement, but all of it.