She was sitting across from me, holding her coffee cup, touching it with her fingertips, as if she didn’t notice my gaze. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips, but not the kind of smile that promised something. More like a hint of something hidden, as if reticence were second nature to her.
We both knew the rules — tacit, not voiced aloud, but tangible. A mind game — a thin, invisible net that wove itself between us with every glance, every sentence thrown into conversation like bait. Did either of us dominate? I don’t know. Maybe this game was never about power. More about who could slip away first, leaving the other at the mercy of mystery.
She looked away carelessly and touched the pendant around her neck, as if by accident — and I caught a new move. A chase for an answer, for understanding, for unlocking secrets that neither of us seemed willing to expose, but each sought to uncover from the other. That ability to hide in plain sight, to stay out of reach, was where the real strength lay.
And maybe I let her dominate, as she let me, because there were no winners in these games. Only the art of holding invisible threads without squeezing them too tightly. She knew I was trying to understand her, and I knew her every gesture was thought out to the smallest detail. Who wins in the end? The one who disappears first, leaving the other captive to questions.
Creative director and retouching: Jean Rei
Photographer: Denis Goldman
