Seven Years, One Heartbreak, New Love

e Nixo

pounded on the wood. "Adeline! Just tell me what's wrong! Are you sick? What kind of doctor is this?

o the background. Let him wonder. Let him worry.

gentle eyes. "Is everything alright out there, Adeline?" she asked, a knowing smile playing

l in helping me see the truth of my relationship with Ethan. She hadn'

s tasting like a lie even as I uttered th

she said warmly. "It's a big step. And I must say,

ight of anxiety that had defined my life fo

ns asked softly, her gaze steady. "How your anxi

They were the reason I was here in the first place, the reason I' d

ty'," I mumbled, the old

. "It was GAD. Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Triggere

th sentence; it was a validation. It meant I wasn't craz

n me when I was six. "I'll be back," she'd promised, her suitcase clutched in her hand. But she never was. I spent my childhood waitin

aunt, a kind but distant woman who struggled to fill the void. I grew up with a gnawing fear o

g "too clingy." Ethan, with his initial attentiveness and grand promises, had seemed like a savior. But his escalating fame, the cons

erthought, just like my mother had made me feel. I' d started having panic attacks, sometimes so severe I couldn't breathe. My c

e firm. "He preyed on your deeply rooted abandonment issues, making you feel r

ime he dismissed my feelings, he was reinforcing that old

t thing you could do," she continued. "You're creating a new li

s my mind felt truly quiet. It was a different kind of focus, a healing kind. Baking was my anchor now, not a person. And

good. My cortisol levels were finally dropping. My

ne," Dr. Evans smiled. "I have n