Chapter 30: Concern
Adam’s harsh words hung in the cold night air between them. He expected her to recoil to become defensive to offer some panicked excuse. Sophia’s reply however was not what he anticipated. It was simple. It was direct. It disarmed him completely.
"I was worried about you," she said. Her voice was soft yet steady. It was a simple statement of fact.
Her words stunned him. He stared at her his mind struggling to process her response. His world had become a brutal equation of survival. Worry was a luxury a weakness. It was an emotion that got people killed.
"Did I ask for your concern?" he retorted his own voice colder than he intended.
Sophia flinched at his harsh tone. He could see it even in the dim light of the streetlamp. A part of her was already afraid of him. He could see the fear that had been building in her since their encounter in the park.
But there was something else in her eyes now too. A deep unshakable sincerity. He realized with a jolt that when she had snuck out of her house she had not just been afraid of her parents catching her. She had been afraid of him. She had been afraid that he would see her disobeying his direct order.
She had known he would be angry. But she had come anyway. The depth of her concern for him outweighed her fear of his wrath. The thought was so foreign to his new way of thinking that it left him momentarily speechless.
And yet now that she was here he was lashing out at her exactly as she had feared. But it didn’t seem to matter to her. The worry in her eyes did not waver.
He pressed on his frustration growing. He felt a desperate need to push her away to make her understand the danger she was putting herself in.
"Answer me," he demanded his voice rising. "Did I tell you to worry about me? I told you not to leave your house. Why did you come out here?"