Chapter 39 – I Will Live It However I Want
Chapter 39 – I Will Live It However I Want
Time drifted slowly, like a lazy tide under moonlight, as Zane sat in silence, letting the warmth of Fiora's embrace soften the tight knot in his chest. His body had stopped trembling, but something in him still ached. He didn't know how long he'd cried—but for the first time in a long while, he hadn't done it alone.
When the tears finally dried, Fiora pulled away gently. Her eyes studied his face with care, but she didn't speak right away. She gave him space to breathe, to collect whatever fragments of himself were left after the storm.
Zane sniffed and wiped his face with the back of his arm. "I'm fine," he muttered, barely able to meet her gaze. His voice was hoarse and heavy with shame. 'Damn it. I cried like a kid. In front of someone. I've never done that before...'
He felt exposed—like all the armor he had spent years forging around his emotions had cracked under a single moment of kindness.
Fiora, however, didn't mock him. She didn't even smirk. Instead, she just leaned back and crossed her arms, her tone light but firm. "If you're worried I'm going to ask you why you cried, I'm not. I know when to stay out of things that aren't my business."
Zane nodded, grateful yet still a little guarded.
"But," she continued, tapping a finger on his shoulder, "I will say this—there's no shame in feeling pain. Sometimes, pain is the only thing that reminds us we're still human."
"..." Her words echoed inside him, deeper than he expected. Something about the way she said it—the calmness, the certainty—tugged at a place within Zane he had long stopped exploring.
Feel pain... That phrase twisted around in his thoughts, snagging against memories, regrets, and the questions he never dared ask himself. Hadn't he always felt pain? Hadn't his entire life been one long chain of it?
And yet... somehow, that didn't feel like the right answer.