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Everest leaned against the wall outside the next shop, arms folded across his chest, watching her approach.
She smiled. She could hardly ask Were you waiting for me? Though she did wonder.
“Doing some shopping?” he asked, a note of amusement in his voice.
She felt even more scrutinized than usual.
“My room still looks the way it did when I arrived,” she said. As if she owed him an explanation.
She continued walking, pretending she didn’t care whether this conversation happened or not. To her relief, he walked along with her. “All of ours do, if you really look.”
She nodded. Took a guess at what he meant. “Without the contacts, you mean?”
He laughed. “I didn’t even mean that, but yes.”
It was subtle, how much of this place didn’t match how it looked when you reached out and touc
