The room was quiet again.
Too quiet.
The kind of silence that felt heavier than words.
Lucy's eyelashes fluttered slowly before her eyes opened.
At first everything looked blurred.
The ceiling.
The curtains.
The soft light from the lamp beside the bed.
Then her vision cleared.
And she saw him.
Adrian was sitting beside the bed.
Still in the same clothes.
His elbows resting on his knees.
His eyes fixed on her like he had not looked away once.
For a few seconds neither of them said anything.
Lucy just stared at him.
Trying to understand everything she was feeling.
The pain in her chest.
The weight in her heart.
The tears already gathering again.
Adrian leaned forward slightly.
His voice was lower than usual.
"Lucy."
That one word almost broke her again.
Because it sounded like the old him.
The Adrian she had been missing for weeks.
"Don't," she whispered.
He frowned.
"Don't what?"
Lucy slowly pushed herself up against the headboard.
Her body still weak.
Her heart even weaker.
"Don't say my name like that now."
Her voice trembled.
"Not now."
Adrian watched her carefully.
He could already see the tears forming in her eyes again.
"Lucy—"
"No."
She cut him off this time.
Her voice cracked.
But she kept going.
Because if she stopped now she knew she would never say it.
She looked straight into his eyes.
And asked the one question that had been tearing her apart.
"Are you going to leave me like they said?"
The room became still.
Adrian's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Lucy swallowed hard.
Her fingers twisted in the bedsheet.
"Tell me the truth."
Her voice shook harder now.
"Just say it to my face."
Adrian stared at her.
But Lucy could not stop anymore.
Everything she had been holding in was finally breaking.
"I didn't plan for any of this."
A tear slid down her cheek.
Then another.
"I didn't plan to feel like this."
Her breathing became uneven.
"I didn't plan for my first time to happen this way."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
His eyes darkened.
Lucy laughed bitterly through her tears.
A broken little sound.
"I wanted to keep that part of me for the man I married."
Her voice dropped into a whisper.
"But I gave it to you."
Adrian stood up slowly.
But Lucy kept talking.
Because now she could not stop.
"And after everything…"
She looked at him with pain in her eyes.
"You touched me."
"You held me."
"You made me believe something was changing."
Her voice finally broke.
"Then you started acting like I meant nothing."
Adrian's face hardened.
Not from anger.
From guilt.
Lucy wiped her tears with shaking fingers.
But more kept falling.
"You stopped talking to me."
"You stopped looking at me."
"You stayed away from me like what happened between us was some kind of mistake."
Her lips trembled.
"And maybe that's what hurts the most."
Adrian took one step closer.
"Lucy—"
"No."
She shook her head quickly.
Tears falling harder now.
"You don't get to say my name like everything is fine."
Her voice dropped lower.
Softer.
More painful.
"You don't get to make me feel everything…"
She pressed her hand to her chest.
"…and then disappear."
Silence.
Heavy silence.
Adrian stood there looking at her.
And for the first time in a long time—
he had no words.
Lucy looked away from him.
Her voice barely above a whisper now.
"If I don't matter to you anymore…"
She closed her eyes.
Trying to hold herself together.
"Then let me go."
Those words hit harder than anything else she had said.
Because she meant them.
Even though saying them was tearing her apart.
Adrian moved suddenly.
Closing the distance between them.
Lucy looked up through her tears.
And before she could pull away—
his hand gently caught hers.
His fingers wrapped around hers tightly.
Not enough to hurt.
Just enough to stop her from slipping away.
Adrian's voice came out rough.
Lower than she had ever heard it.
"If I wanted to leave you…"
He looked straight into her eyes.
"…you wouldn't still be here."
Lucy froze.
Her breathing stopped for a second.
Adrian lifted her trembling hand slowly.
Holding it against his chest.
Right over his heartbeat.
And for the first time—
she could feel how hard it was beating.
His eyes never left hers.
"You think I stayed away because I stopped feeling something?"
His voice dropped.
Almost painful.
"I stayed away because every time I look at you…"
He swallowed.
Then finally said it.
"I want more than I should."
Lucy's tears fell silently.
Because that was the last thing she expected him to say.
Adrian stepped closer.
Close enough for her to feel his breath.
"You think you're the only one losing control?"
He asked quietly.
Lucy could not answer.
She could only stare at him.