"You should go back," she whispered, though her body had already betrayed her, leaning toward the heat of him.

, referring to the psychology and personality traits of people who prefer being single?

But solitude had its edges. The first time a friend asked, casually, “Aren’t you lonely?” Meana paused. She realized loneliness wasn’t only a lack of people — it was the silent echo after a long day when you realize the stories you wanted to share had nowhere to land. Sometimes she missed the small habits of partnership: the cushion warmed by someone else’s presence, the shared joke rooted in a private timeline. Sometimes she woke from dreams that smelled like someone else’s perfume and felt as if the world had misplaced a color.