"You're back... What's wrong? What happened?"
Karl froze in place, his heart skipping a beat.
Karl glanced over at the bed and saw Julian looking at him with sleepy eyes.
"Noth-ing... nothing... my stomach was just bad," Karl muttered, the words barely escaping his lips as his heart pounded in his chest. The fear clung to him, like a shadow that wouldn't leave. It was the fear of having done something wrong, the kind of fear that comes with knowing you've crossed a line but not being able to fully admit it. His heart raced as he lied, trying to hide the truth of his actions, though a part of him knew deep down that it wasn't entirely wrong. They were thinking about the future, weren't they? But still, the nagging feeling of guilt twisted inside him.
The memory of all the debt, and the reasons behind it, still haunted him like a shadow that refused to fade. Every time his mind wandered back to that dark chapter, the weight of it felt like a heavy stone pressing against his chest.
