***
{Inside The Projection}
Since their little date, the one that had ended in eventual failure...
Layla started drifting closer.
Of course, it wasn't all at once; there were no dramatic moments or any sort of confession, only the small things.
The ones Malik almost missed because, these days, his mind was like an empty room with the curtains drawn, feeling like a stranger in an unfamiliar town.
Not noticing that, because, well, there wasn't much to notice, Layla started touching him more, in a surprisingly non-forced way, making it obvious that she was not trying to spark something but simply trying to make this... contract feel like a home for the both of them, a home that she could live in despite all the hate within her.
And so, she'd be there, in every one of those quiet, domestic beats where 'normal' people usually wouldn't think twice to get close.
