The silence stretches on, but it’s not the awkward, stifling kind I’m used to. It’s the kind that feels safe. Klaus’s hand stays on mine, and for the first time in what feels like forever, I don’t feel the need to pull away. I don’t feel the urge to push him out, to retreat behind my walls.
It’s terrifying, letting him in like this. But at the same time, it’s freeing. Like maybe, just maybe, I don’t have to keep carrying everything on my own.
“Thank you,” I whisper, my voice barely audible. “For... everything.”
Klaus gives me a small, soft smile. “You don’t have to thank me, Heaven. You don’t have to do this alone and also, thank you for listening. I have always wanted to let it out.”
His words hang in the air between us, and I can feel the tension building, something fragile and unspo
