"I'm not going to apologize again," she said quietly. "You know I'm sorry. You know why I did it. But I need you to understand something."
He waited.
"When you shut down like this, when you go cold and silent, it doesn't protect you. It doesn't punish me." She held his gaze. "It just puts distance between us. And I hate that distance. I hate sleeping without you. I hate eating alone. I hate walking past your office and feeling like a stranger in my own home."
His jaw tightened.
"I'm not asking you to stop being angry. You have every right to be." Her voice softened. "But don't shut me out completely. Don't make me prove I love you by surviving your silences."
Leo stared at her for a long, long moment.
Then, slowly, his hand lifted. His fingers brushed a strand of hair from her face. The touch was featherlight. Tentative. Like he was relearning how to reach for her.
"Bella," he said. Just her name. But it wasn't cold anymore.
She leaned into his touch, eyes closing.
