Most people pretended she didn’t exist.
Some looked up, registered her limp and the paper cup in her hands, then immediately dropped their eyes back to their phones. Others shook their heads before she could say a word, rejecting a request she hadn’t even made yet. A few instinctively pulled their bags closer, as if a thin, limping child could somehow be dangerous.
She accepted each silent dismissal without protest. With every step, her shoulders curved inward, her posture shrinking, as though she were trying to take up less space in a world that clearly didn’t want her in it.
Then she reached Lucas’s table.
She stopped, unsure. Took a breath. And finally spoke, her voice barely strong enough to cut through the hum of the café.
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