Chapter 56
Akiro's tears slipped down his cheeks, soundless but potent. Tamaro's words had cracked something open in him—something old and aching and hopeful. Despite everything, there was a tremor of possibility now. A fragile hope that they could return to each other, not as they were, but as something stronger, reshaped by all they'd endured. He knew the road would be long, paved with silence and apology. But he would walk it. Crawl it, if he had to. He wouldn't stop—not until Tamaro came back to him. "Thank you, Roo," he whispered, voice barely brushing the air. Slowly, deliberately, he reached out and took Tamaro's hand. Tamaro's breath caught the moment their fingers met. His instinct was to pull away—not out of anger, but fear. The weight of the past pulsed between them, raw and unfinished.
- Writer
