Juno stepped out of The Green Tea Cafe, the cold air biting at her face. It did nothing to calm the buzzing panic inside her.

  She had no plan, no strategy. The idea of walking into Celia’s house—her house, she corrected herself once more mid-thought—and sitting at their dinner table like everything was fine, was terrifying.

  How did normal families even act? Her mind scrambled. She had no idea what to say to them. Celia never mentioned much about her parents, other than how they got married three years ago.

  Juno never really had parents. Not in the way most people did. Her dad was gone before she even remembered him.

  And her mom? She was always gone, busy with work, never really around. Juno had learned to take care of herself. To be alone. To just handle it.

  So now, stepping into a house with actual parents, actual people who wanted to be involved, who wanted to care…it felt foreign. She may as well be an alien from a planet that never knew the concept of parenthood. Or at least, real, actual parenthood.

  Juno stood on the sidewalk in front of her house, hands shoved deep into her pockets, shoulders hunched against the biting cold. She could see the warm, soft light glowing from the windows, casting a golden hue on the snow-covered yard.

  The sight should have been comforting. Homey. Safe. But to Juno, it was a trap.

  Her stomach flipped as she stood there, staring at the front door. She wasn’t sure how to do this. How to walk into a house full of people who were supposed to be her family now, and pretend she wasn’t about to implode.

  A normal family. Sitting down to dinner together. Laughing. Talking about their days.

  At this point, she had no idea what normal was supposed to look like.

  “Okay, Juno. You got this,” she muttered to herself, pacing back and forth on the icy sidewalk. Her boots crunched noisily in the snow, and she swore the sound was making the whole situation more awkward.

  She looked back at the house again. She could see through the window now: Anna, Celia’s mom, was placing a massive roast chicken on the table, and Mark, Celia’s dad, was setting down a bowl of mashed potatoes.

  Aaron was sitting between them, his face animated as he talked about something, his hands gesturing wildly. The kind of family scene Juno had only ever seen in sitcoms. Warm. Cozy. Inviting.

  But not for her.

  "Okay, here goes," Juno whispered, taking a deep breath before attempting a greeting. She stood up straighter, trying to look confident, but it came out more like a robot trying to mimic human behavior.

  "Hey, Anna! Hi, Mark! I'm Celia's... I'm Celia... hi? Mom? Hi, Mom!" She grimaced at her attempt, barely suppressing the urge to slap herself across the face. “Smooth, Juno. Real smooth.”

  She rubbed her forehead in frustration, pacing around again. The snow crunched louder this time. Great, Juno thought, they could probably hear me inside. I might as well just shout that I’m here, and I’m totally not freaking out. Nope, not at all.

  “Okay Juno–ugh, dammit! Celia,” she corrected herself once more, gritting her teeth. “Maybe just….just go in and say ‘Hey,’ right? Simple. Easy. You’re just... going to eat dinner, be normal. Pretend to be Celia. You’ve survived two days pretending to be someone you never met, and no one figured it out yet. How hard could it be?”

  Her thoughts spiraled. She tried another greeting. “Hey, everyone! So, how’s your... your... oh, God, what do I even say? How do you talk to people with actual parents? Do you talk about the weather? The news? Is that a thing?”

  She had no idea. She had spent her whole life trying to be invisible, trying to keep out of other people's family dynamics.

  She never learned how to fit into one. The closest she’d come was that one weird Thanksgiving where she ended up eating frozen pizza on the kitchen floor because her mom had forgotten it was Thanksgiving. She'd been twelve. That didn't really count as "family time," though.

  Juno looked back at the window again. Anna was serving dinner now. The way she moved, the way she smiled at Aaron and Mark, like she was genuinely happy to be together was so... domestic.

  So normal. She felt like she was on the wrong side of the glass.

  Okay. Enough pacing. She had to do this. She had to walk in there and be Celia, even if it killed her.

  Her hand trembled as she reached for the door handle, the cold metal sending a shock through her fingertips.

  She flinched but shoved the door open, stepping inside. Immediately, the warmth of the house hit her like a wall, and it only made her panic more.

  Just breathe, Juno. Just breathe.

  When she pushed open the door, a wave of warmth rushed over her, and she almost stumbled back out into the cold, but she steadied herself.

  "Hey, Celia!" Anna greeted her immediately, her arms wide as she stepped forward. “Oh my dear, I missed you!”

  "Mom!" Juno said a little too loudly, then winced at how ridiculous she sounded. Mom? She had never spoken to anyone like that, let alone a woman who was not her actual mom.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Anna wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug, and for a moment, Juno froze. The smell of Anna's perfume and the softness of her embrace was so different from the cold, clinical detachment that had filled Juno’s life.

  Mark stood up from the table when he saw her, his face lighting up with a smile. "Celia, there you are! You look better than the last time I saw you,” he said heartily, patting her shoulder.

  Juno’s stomach twisted. The last time he saw me? Celia never noted down how often she sees her dad. Was it last week? Last month? What can she say to that?

  “I... I’ve been fine, Dad. Really, um... good,” Juno stammered, forcing out the word "Dad." She cringed immediately. Her tongue felt like it had grown too large for her mouth.

  Mark raised an eyebrow, then chuckled. "Dad? Since when did you start calling me that? You've been calling me Pa or Mark since the first year we became a family." He shrugged, his smile warm but teasing. "Don’t you think that’s a bit... formal?”

  Juno laughed nervously. "Oh. Right. Pa... I mean, Mark." She wanted to sink into the ground. Just pretend you know what you’re doing, Juno.

  Anna stepped back and eyed her carefully. "You okay, sweetie? You’re not looking too well. Have you been studying too hard? How’s your work going?"

  Juno blinked. “Uh... yeah, work and school has been... fine. Really busy, you know?” she laughed awkwardly and instantly regretted it, the lie burning in her chest. What the hell was she supposed to say? She had no idea whether Celia was an A-student like she imagined, or if work was tough for her recently.

  “You’ve been so focused lately. We were away for longer than expected for that conference last weekend,” Anna continued as they all sat down. “But we wanted to make sure we had a nice dinner together tonight, just to relax and catch up.”

  Juno froze. A conference? They had conferences? Business conferences? Since when did Celia’s parents own a business? Celia never said anything about their work in her journals.

  Even after reading all of her journals and stepping into her shoes, Celia Goldberg was still a blank page to her.

  Her heart pounded in her chest as Anna’s concerned eyes met hers. “You’re not overworking yourself, are you, Celia?” she asked, worry palpable in her voice.

  Juno immediately panicked. “No! No, I’m fine, really. Totally fine." She could feel her face getting hotter, trying to salvage the situation. "Just... just a lot going on, you know? School and…college stuff. Yeah.”

  Mark was still watching her carefully, his gaze as sharp as ever. "College stuff? Haven’t you already finished those exams? Are you sure you're not stressing yourself out too much?"

  Stress. Exams. Right. Her stomach knotted. Celia would never falter like this. She probably had the best memory out of all of them. What if her dad—what if Mark—found out she wasn’t really Celia? What would he do then?

  It felt like the room was closing in around her.

  Aaron had been sitting quietly, watching the exchange unfold, but now his eyes were locked on her.

  She could feel the weight of his gaze like a pressure on her chest. It was like he could see through her, see past the lies she was trying to weave. His silence was worse than any question he could have asked.

  She desperately tried to keep her thoughts from spiraling. The food in front of her seemed to mock her: the perfectly cooked roast chicken, the steaming mashed potatoes, the fresh green salad that Anna had lovingly prepared.

  It all felt too perfect, too normal. She didn’t belong here.

  “Celia,” Anna continued, still scanning her face with concern, “how’s your mental health been? You’ve been working so hard, and we just want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself too.”

  Juno’s mind went blank. “Oh... uh, I’ve been fine. Really. Just... you know...” She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

  She didn’t know. She didn’t know anything.

  The awkward silence was broken only by the soft clink of silverware as Mark shifted his attention to Aaron, who had been quietly watching Juno the whole time.

  “So, Aaron,” Mark said, a slight change in his tone. “How are those college entrance exams going? Getting ready to start the next phase?”

  Aaron shifted, his smile never faltering, but Juno could see the shift in his posture. His shoulders were tense, and he avoided looking directly at them.

  After a moment he said, “Yeah, they’re going well. Nothing to worry about.” But there was something in his eyes, something guarded. He immediately looked down before Juno could figure out what it was.

  Juno didn’t have time to dwell on it. The conversation continued, but she couldn’t focus on what they were saying anymore.

  All she could think about was how, in that moment, everything felt wrong. She was sitting at a table, pretending to be someone she wasn’t, and everyone around her was buying it.st

  Or at least, almost everyone.

  "You know, Celia," Anna said kindly, cutting through Juno’s misery. "If you're struggling, we’re here for you. You’ve got this family to rely on, no matter what. Don't be afraid to lean on us."

  And that was the breaking point. That was when Juno felt the real weight of the lie settle heavily in her gut.

  She wasn’t Celia. And yet, they were offering help like she was. Like she deserved it. Like she had a place here.

  And she didn’t. She didn’t deserve any of it.

  The dinner conversation buzzed around her, the clink of forks against plates and Anna’s soft laughter blending into a blur of sound.

  Juno barely registered the words anymore. She nodded along mechanically, smiling when she was supposed to, pretending she wasn’t suffocating under the weight of her own lie.

  But through it all, Aaron’s gaze never wavered from her. He was watching her every move.

  When the meal finally wound down, Juno was desperate for a way out, an escape from the suffocating perfection of the evening.

  It was Aaron who finally broke the cycle, his voice low and steady. "I’m going up to my room," he said, his tone quiet but final.

  Mark nodded, his attention already drifting back to his phone. Anna hummed in response, still oblivious to the tension hanging in the air.

  Juno watched as Aaron stood up, his movements slow and deliberate. He left the table without another word, his back to her as he disappeared up the stairs.

  Juno let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, but her body still felt tense, stiff with anxiety.

  She stayed at the table a moment longer than necessary, fiddling with her utensils, pretending to be interested in the remnants of her plate.

  But her mind was elsewhere. Her thoughts kept circling back to Aaron, to the way he had looked at her.The thought of it made the guilt settle even deeper into her bones.

  It wasn’t until later, when the house had quieted and Anna and Mark were in their room, that Juno found herself outside.

  The cold air bit into her skin once more, but it was a merciful release from the suffocating warmth of the house. She leaned against the railing of the porch, staring out into the dark, trying to calm the chaos inside her.

  But all she could think about was Aaron.

  She could feel the weight of his gaze even now, even when he wasn’t around.