The Coworker

Five seconds in which someone decides you are not there.

Three days later, he had taken the tunnelbana from Slussen to T-Centralen, and when the train stopped in Gamla Stan he looked out of the window and she was standing on the platform not two metres away. He caught sight of her at the exact moment the doors closed. For five seconds she stared right through him, as though he were nothing but air, before she turned and walked out of his field of vision as the train began to move.

The Girl Who Played with Fire · Stieg Larsson

She likes him best for the quality that should be disqualifying.

I’ve known plenty of self-absorbed men, but Nathan takes the cake. It’s my favorite thing about him. I can’t even remember the last time he asked me a personal question. When I told him that I’d been married for two years, in my early twenties, he said, “No worries, want to go to a movie?”

Listen for the Lie · Amy Tintera

The logic of a person who thinks protection and possession are the same thing.

But not everything was meant to be free. Some things had to be kept in cages.

You Shouldn't Have Come Here · Jeneva Rose