I cupped her cheek with infinite tenderness, my thumb brushing slowly along the sharp line of her jaw as though I were handling something fragile and irreplaceable.
With my other hand, I caught a loose strand of her dark hair that the evening breeze had tugged free, tucking it behind her ear with deliberate care, letting my fingertips linger against the warm shell of her ear a heartbeat longer than necessary.
"I… didn't want you to be worried," I murmured, voice low and velvet-soft, almost a confession. "I thought if I stayed close — if I kept showing up the way I always did — it would only carve deeper cracks between you and Jack. The last thing I ever wanted was to become the shadow that ruined your home."
A single tear slipped free from the corner of Mira's eye and traced a slow, shining path down her cheek.
