Once they stepped outside, the evening air wrapped around them... cool, damp, carrying the faintly metallic scent of the streetlights warming up.
Mary's fingers trembled slightly as she held onto Adam's wrist. Her eyes, wide and glossy with worry, kept flicking toward him as though she had not truly understood why he had dragged her out so abruptly.
"Why did you pull me away like that? What if they take action against us?" Mary's voice quivered despite her attempt to sound composed.
Adam glanced at her, his jaw tightening with the weight of everything he had been holding back.
For a moment he didn't speak; he simply watched her expression tighten, watched her shoulders rise and fall with her shallow breaths.
'She's truly scared… she thinks something will happen to us.'
Seeing that fear, something warm and protective surged through him. His heart clenched not in pain but in a fierce tenderness.
