She paused.
"…The kind that takes away pieces of who you are. But he's getting better."
There was something in her voice. A quiet grief. A strength held together by tired threads.
And that ache in Sebastian's chest tightened.
He turned his face away and laughed dryly. "He must be some man. To make a woman like you stay."
Lilith stood, slowly, walking toward the glass wall.
"He is," she whispered.
He followed her gaze, looking at her reflection in the glass. She stood tall. Poised. But her eyes… they were heavy with something he couldn't name.
"Does he make you happy?" he asked one last time.
Lilith turned to him, eyes steady, full of so many things.
"Yes," she said. "But more than that… he makes me stay."
Sebastian didn't speak. Couldn't.
He just watched her. And wondered why her words felt like déjà vu—why the grief in her eyes made something twist in his chest. Why he felt like the man she was describing… was him.
***
