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Somehow, our pain had shaped us. Our demons had kept us alive. We survived because of them.

Without them… who would we even be?

“We’re doing the right thing, aren’t we?”

“Yes, we are. The scales must be balanced.”

He was right. My demons were born from my father’s death, and my father—had he lived—would have shaped me into something pitiful. He would have turned me into my mother, another statistic, another tragic end. That would have been the real tragedy.

I wasn’t meant to die like that.

“It must be,” I whispered.

We stood there for a while, his arms wrapped around me, his heart softly racing beneath my head.

Everything was perfect right at this moment. The silence. The quiet. The warmth.

It felt normal.

I wished… the world was made of only him and me. Just this. Just the warmth of his embrace, the way his fingers traced slow, absentminded circles on my skin, the way I fit so perfectly against him.

But our life was not normal. Our world couldn’t just be inside this tiny circle.

I had too much rage for that. We had.

“I need to go.” I sighed.

His arms tightened around me. “I know,” he murmured.

I smiled. “You’re holding me hostage, aren’t you?”

“Mhm.” His fingers brushed up my spine, slow and lazy. “I need that month-long vacation. Right about now.”

“Five more minutes. You only get five more minutes.” I laughed.

I felt his smile as he pressed a kiss to my head. I felt my body surrender.

“I’ll take it.”

After ten minutes and another five, Ryden reluctantly pulled away, his eyes heavy with need.

“Stop looking,” I said.

“How can I not look when you look so beautiful naked?”

I walked toward the bathroom, took a quick shower, and dressed before taking the stairs down. Ryden handed me a cup of coffee as soon as I stepped into the kitchen.

“Do you want anything to eat?”

“Just a banana.”

With a quick kiss to his lips, I took the banana and my car keys and walked out, driving toward the orphanage, thinking about Patty.

Patty was only a vague memory in my head. She was this faceless girl… who always watched me from a distance. Unlike Tany, she was shy, quiet, and she preferred to be alone.

Could she really be who I had been chasing for four years?

The more I thought about it, the more I was sure.