Chapter 165

NOAH It was clearly just a dream. Yet I could not forget my younger self and the way he looked at me—playful, certain, and mocking, as if he already knew the answer to every question I now carried. I reached for the bedside table and opened the small bottle of sleeping pills. Only two were left inside. I stared at them for a moment before letting out a quiet breath. Two pills were not enough to give me the kind of sleep I needed. So I pushed the bottle aside and stood up before walking toward the window. I took out a cigarette and lit it before settling into the black leather armchair beside the floor-to-ceiling windows. Cold moonlight streamed quietly into the room, casting a pale glow across the polished floor of the penthouse. The cigarette rested between my fingertips as a thin trail of smoke slowly curled upward. The ember flickered faintly in the darkness. I took a slow drag, and for a moment the smoke drifted across my face, blurring my reflection in the glass. I dragged a hand