“You anticipated it would turn out like this?”
Arnav’s voice was low, barely above a murmur, yet it held the sharp edge of a blade. He didn't look at Arsene when he spoke. His eyes were fixed on the cold, sterile hallway ahead, as if he needed something neutral to focus on while suppressing the turmoil roiling just beneath his composed surface.
The door behind them clicked shut, muffling the tension still lingering in the room they'd just left. Sylvia’s voice, though distant now, had left an echo in Arnav’s chest that he couldn’t shake off.
Arsene didn’t respond right away. He stood still, hands in his pockets, his shoulders slightly hunched as though the air in the hallway had suddenly grown heavier. When he finally nodded, it wasn’t with confidence. It was with a kind of reluctant ac
