Aria’s POV
I waited for him to look at me differently.
To see what I’d been hiding all this time.
But his stare didn’t change.
If anything, it was worse because he still saw me the same.
He didn’t move for a long time. Just stood there, a dark shape by the window, the city lights burning behind him like fire caught in glass. His hands hung loose at his sides, one still stained faintly with the dried blood from earlier. Every second stretched thin between us. I could hear the hum of the air conditioner, the quiet pulse in my ears, the whisper of my own breath.
He turned finally, slow, deliberate. His eyes found me through the dim light steady, unreadable, the kind of look that said everything and nothing at once.
The air shifted when he came closer. It always did with him. Heavy, cha
