Bastian squeezed my hand gently, like he was trying to calm me. When I looked at him, he was smiling, like he knew exactly what I was feeling and found it… amusing.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
I nodded too quickly. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
I wasn’t fine. I was anything but fine.
The rest of the movie passed in a blur. The brothers kept talking to me, pulling me into their conversations, making me laugh even when I tried to stay composed.
Bastian was especially relentless, throwing in comments and jokes that caught me off guard and made me laugh in ways I wasn’t used to.
I kept forgetting Celeste was even there, until she spoke again.
“This must be… new for you,” she said lightly, glancing at me with a small smile.
I looked at her.
Her eyes were calm. Too calm.
“Having so much attenti
