You’re Dreaming Way Too High
And with that, he pushed the door open and stepped out, sunlight spilling into the SUV.
Susan didn’t look up. Her world had crumbled into fragments. All she could do was clutch her belly tighter and cry. Alone in the silence.
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BACK TO A YEAR AGO
HOURS AFTER JOSEPH VISITED HIS OLD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL— SANCTUARY SPRING ACADEMY
The first rays of morning light pushed through the thin window curtains, falling across the modest bedroom with a quiet glow. The warmth of the sun crept in like a gentle whisper, lighting up the figure lying beneath a crumpled lilac bedsheet.
Susan stirred, her body curled under the covers. Her eyes fluttered open, lashes brushing against the top of her cheek. Slowly, she turned her head, still half-lost in the cocoon of sleep, and gazed toward the window.
Her lips parted in a soft yawn.
“Ahhhhnn…” she breathed, her voice groggy as she stretched, one hand reaching toward the nightstand.
The hem of her worn night robe shifted slightly as she adjusted her position, her hand fumbling for the lamp switch. A soft click, and the gentle nightlight blinked off. She blinked slowly, then reached further to grab her phone— cracked screen and all— resting just beside the lamp.
The moment the phone met her face, it unlocked with a faint buzz. Her thumb hovered over the screen. The lock screen was filled with notifications, but her eyes immediately caught the small green badge on her WhatsApp icon.
She tapped it.
Inside the Sanctuary Spring Academy Staff group, the feed was bursting with messages and images from yesterday’s school event. Her thumb lazily scrolled through stacks of pictures— some familiar faces, a few funny poses, and group shots of the kids. But then…
Her thumb stopped.
There it was.
A picture— the picture.
She was in it. Standing on the school's conference room podium, holding the oversized ceremonial check, beside none other than Joseph Hudson. He had offered the donation to the school himself. And while everyone in the photo had their eyes on the camera, Joseph’s were fixed... on her.
Not just looking. Staring.
His face was still, but his eyes… they were something else entirely. Bold. Focused. Passionate. Like she was something rare—something he wanted. Not in a shallow way. No, it was raw, almost predatory in a strangely respectful way. As if she were the only thing that existed in that moment.
Susan blinked, her breath caught.
Her lips slowly curled into a smile. It widened as her eyes stayed fixed on the screen, and her cheeks flushed red, the warmth rushing in like a tide.
She tilted her head slightly, letting out a soft whisper, barely audible even to herself.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Her stomach flipped. The butterflies were not walking— they were sprinting.
Still smiling, she swung her legs off the bed and got up. Her robe swayed gently with each step as she made her way down the narrow hall toward the small shared kitchen she and her flatmate, Katy, used.
Once inside, she didn’t even bother checking the cabinets or fridge. Instead, she headed straight for the coffee machine. She pressed the start button and leaned against the counter, phone still in hand, eyes still locked on that picture.
Her finger pinched to zoom in. Her smile deepened. The look in his eyes didn’t fade. It was still there, piercing through the screen like it had waited all night just to be seen by her again.
She didn’t hear the front door open. She didn’t hear the footsteps.
She only snapped out of her trance when a hand waved right in front of her face.
“Hellooo?”
Susan blinked rapidly and looked up. Katy, are roommate was standing there, still in her nurse’s night shift uniform, hair slightly disheveled, ID badge swinging from her chest.
“Hey!” Susan exclaimed, startled but now grinning. “When did you get back?”
“Just now,” Katy replied, moving toward the sink. The exhaustion from a long shift hadn’t dulled her sarcasm. “Came home, walked into the kitchen, greeted you, helped you turn off the coffee machine, and you still didn’t notice.”
Susan looked at the machine. It was now quietly hissing with finished coffee.
“Oh… Thank you.” She chuckled.
“You’re welcome,” Katy replied with a smile, reaching into the sink. “Now… who is he?”
Susan blinked. “Who?”
Katy turned off the tap and flicked water from her fingers. “The guy you were staring at so hard, I thought you were trying to memorize his DNA."
Susan bit her bottom lip and looked down at her phone.
Katy’s eyebrows raised higher. “Oh, it’s that serious?”
Susan hesitated. Then her voice dropped to a whisper, as if afraid the walls might overhear.
“He is Joseph Hudson.”
Katy’s hands froze mid-drying. “It’s a lie,” she said, wide-eyed.
Susan nodded slowly, her face glowing.
Katy gasped again, covering her mouth with her palm. “The Joseph Hudson? The Republican gubernatorial candidate?”
Susan’s face couldn’t stop smiling. “Apparently, he studied at Sanctuary Spring Academy as a kid. He came yesterday to give back. You do know him very well huh?”
Katy stepped closer, eyes glued to the screen. “Girl, everybody knows him. As long as you own a TV or have an internet connection.”
Susan tilted the screen toward her again, zooming in. “I think… he might like me.”
Katy peered at the photo. “That’s wild.”
“I’m serious. Look at how he’s staring at me.”
Katy squinted. “He does look… kind of hungry.”
Susan looked at her. “Right?!”
“But come on, girl,” Katy teased, a smirk forming. “You're dreaming way too high.”
Susan’s mouth then dropped open in mock offense, and they both burst into laughter.
The coffee machine gurgled again in the background, forgotten.
Katy leaned against the sink, laughing with her friend, while Susan sipped on the moment as much as she would soon sip her coffee.
But even as they joked and giggled, her thumb slid gently over the image on the phone again— over his eyes.
That look hadn’t changed.
And neither had the flutter in her chest.
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THAT SAME DAY, HOURS LATER. Eric’s POV[Joseph’s righthand man]— Staff Wing, Joseph’s Estate, Beverly Hills.
The low hum of the evening wind pushed its way through the barely opened glass panel, fluttering the edge of Eric’s unbuttoned white shirt like soft waves in a still lake. He sat hunched at his sleek black desk, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, the amber glow from his desk lamp casting sharp angles across his cheekbones. His eyes remained glued to the large, curved monitor in front of him.