The city at night is a different creature—cold, dark, but strung with necklaces of warm streetlight. Deniz and I walk beneath them, our steps slow, synchronized. His eyes are fixed on the pavement again, and the silence between us has grown dense, filled with the echo of his father's laughter and the unspoken fear hiding behind it.
I can't bear it.
I break the quiet, my voice soft. "Your dad… he's incredible. Even lying in a hospital bed, he talks and smiles like nothing's wrong."
Deniz looks up, his expression shadowed. "I'm sorry. For my dad. He always talks like that, he doesn't mean to be—"
I cut him off gently but firmly. "Deniz, why are you apologizing? I loved meeting him. He was wonderful."
He looks back down, the sadness clinging to him like a second skin. It doesn't make sense.
Mr. David seemed… okay. Tired, but present. So why does Deniz look like he's carrying the weight of the world?
Why..?
