Elara's POV
The days after Lena came back were not the same.
I told myself that was normal. She had been locked in a waiting room for days, questioned, suspected, treated like a criminal. Of course she was different. Anyone would be different. The strain of it, the fear, the uncertainty, it would take time to fade. She needed space. She needed patience. She needed me not to watch her like she was a puzzle I was trying to solve.
So I did not watch her. I told myself I was not watching her.
But I noticed things.
It was not dramatic. That was the thing that made it difficult to name. She was present. Attentive. She did every part of her job with the same quiet competence she had always had. The bed was made. The clothes were laid out. The tea was hot and ready when I came back from my morning meetings. Everything was as it should be.
But something underneath it had shifted.
