Third person's POV
Raina approached the seaport with her eyes fixed on the road ahead, but her thoughts had already drifted somewhere else.
Years ago.
Before Ethan. Before Kuro. Before everything had become complicated.
She remembered walking home from the park that evening, her steps slow and heavy as she tried to find some quiet inside her own head.
Her mother had just died.
She had barely begun to understand the loss when another stranger had entered her life, a grandfather she had never known existed, appearing at a time when she was already struggling to keep up with what had happened.
When she reached home, Anna was sitting on the front porch.
The moment Anna saw her, she stood.
"Himari, are you okay?"
The concern in her voice was immediate.
"I've been waiting for you. Where did you go?"
Raina stopped at the bottom of the steps.
"I wanted to be alone."
She lowered her eyes.
"I'm sorry if I worried you."
Anna's expression softened.
"It's okay."
