After a few long, heavy minutes of silence, Raya simply sat there on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at Adrian's face.
There was no burst of joy.
No overwhelming wave of relief.
No fresh tears of happiness.
Just… stillness.
It was as if every emotion inside her had been violently drained all at once, leaving behind an empty, hollow shell filled only with confusion and a strange, unnamed ache she couldn't quite identify. Her mind felt numb, her heart strangely quiet despite the chaos that had just unfolded.
"Are you not happy that I'm awake?" Adrian asked, his voice low but clear, his dark eyes fixed on her face as though trying to pierce through the invisible wall she had suddenly built between them.
Raya blinked slowly, as if processing the question from a great distance.
"You're awake…?" she repeated mechanically, the words echoing his own rather than truly responding. They sounded flat, detached, almost foreign on her tongue.
