Yuna's hands trembled around the spoon before she finally placed it down completely. The small amount she had eaten no longer mattered. Her thoughts had returned to the same place again, circling endlessly around the emptiness inside her chest.
Tears gathered slowly in her eyes as she looked at Ethan.
"Please…" she whispered weakly. "I want my baby back."
The words were soft.
Broken.
But the desperation behind them filled the entire room.
Ethan stayed still beside her, his expression tightening immediately. He had seen grief before. He had seen people collapse under loss, under fear, under guilt. But this—
Watching Yuna destroy herself from the inside—
Was different.
Yuna shook her head faintly, tears slipping down her cheeks one after another. "I'll go crazy if I keep thinking like this," she whispered. "Every second feels empty…"
Her breathing became uneven again.
"When I close my eyes, I keep imagining things," she continued shakily. "I imagine what the baby would've looked like… how small it would've been… if it would call you father someday…"
Ethan closed his eyes briefly.
The pain in her voice was becoming unbearable.
Yuna suddenly grabbed his hand tightly. "Ethan, please," she cried softly. "Do something… say something… I can't breathe properly when I think about it."
He immediately turned toward her fully, holding her shaking hands between his own.
"Yuna, calm down."
"No!" she cried, pulling closer to him desperately. "Don't tell me to calm down! I lost my baby!"
Her voice cracked loudly at the end, tears falling uncontrollably now.
Ethan pulled her against him immediately before she could spiral further. Yuna clung to him tightly, her fingers gripping the back of his shirt as if she was terrified he would disappear too.
"I should've protected it…" she sobbed against his chest. "I should've known something was wrong…"
"You couldn't have known."
"But I should have!" she cried again. "Mothers are supposed to protect their babies…"
Ethan's hand moved carefully through her hair, trying to steady her breathing.
"You were hurt too," he said quietly.
Yuna shook her head violently. "But I was the one carrying it…"
Her body trembled harder with every word now.
"I keep thinking maybe the baby was scared," she whispered brokenly. "Maybe it felt pain… maybe it thought I didn't want it…"
"Stop." Ethan's voice became firmer instantly.
Yuna froze slightly against him.
"Don't say things like that," he said quietly but sharply.
"But what if it's true—"
"It's not."
His tone left no room for argument.
Ethan gently pulled back just enough to look at her face. Her cheeks were wet with tears, her eyes swollen from hours of crying.
"You loved that child," he said firmly. "Even before you fully understood it yourself."
Yuna's lips trembled.
"You didn't abandon it," he continued quietly. "And you didn't fail."
"But it's gone…" she whispered helplessly.
The room fell silent again after that.
Heavy.
Painful.
Yuna looked completely exhausted now, emotionally and physically drained, but her mind still refused to rest.
"I feel empty inside," she admitted quietly. "Like something was taken out of me and now there's just… nothing."
Ethan's gaze darkened slightly at her words.
He understood that feeling more than she realized.
Yuna slowly looked down at her own hands. "Maybe this is punishment," she whispered.
Ethan immediately frowned. "For what?"
"For hating my father," she murmured weakly. "For fighting with you. For all the bad things I said…"
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Yuna looked at him again.
Ethan's expression was serious now, almost harsh—not toward her, but toward the idea itself.
"Don't turn grief into punishment," he said quietly. "Life is cruel enough already."
Yuna stared at him silently.
"I'm serious," he continued. "You don't deserve this."
Fresh tears slipped down her face again.
"Then why does it hurt this much?" she whispered.
Ethan had no easy answer.
Because it hurt him too.
More than he expected.
He looked away briefly, his jaw tightening before he spoke again.
"I didn't know I wanted that child either," he admitted quietly.
Yuna froze slightly.
Ethan rarely admitted things like this.
"I only realized it after…" He stopped for a second before continuing more quietly. "After it was already gone."
Yuna stared at him, shocked by the honesty in his voice.
Ethan leaned back slightly, one hand rubbing tiredly across his face before dropping again.
"When the doctor said there was no choice…" his voice lowered, rougher now, "I signed the papers because I thought losing the baby was better than losing you too."
Yuna's eyes filled immediately again.
"But afterward…" Ethan exhaled slowly, "the silence felt wrong."
The room became painfully quiet after that confession.
Yuna moved closer to him slowly again, her voice fragile. "You never told me that."
"I'm telling you now."
Her chest tightened painfully hearing it.
For so long she thought she was grieving alone.
But she wasn't.
Ethan's eyes finally met hers again.
"And that's why I won't let you destroy yourself over this," he said quietly. "Because if you break completely… then losing the baby really becomes meaningless."
Yuna's tears fell silently now instead of violently.
"I don't know how to move forward," she admitted.
"You don't have to figure it out tonight."
"What if I never stop hurting?"
Ethan looked at her for a long moment before answering honestly.
"You probably won't completely."
That answer surprised her.
"But one day," he continued quietly, "the pain won't control every second anymore."
Yuna lowered her gaze slowly.
"And until then?" she whispered.
Ethan gently reached up, brushing away the tears still falling from her cheeks.
"Until then," he murmured, "you let someone stay beside you while you survive it."
Yuna looked at him again after that.
Really looked at him.
At the exhaustion in his face.
At the guilt in his eyes.
At the grief he was hiding almost as badly as she was.
And suddenly she realized—
He was mourning too.
Maybe differently.
Maybe more quietly.
But still mourning.
Yuna finally leaned against him again, weaker now, emotionally emptied by everything she had been carrying.
Ethan wrapped his arms around her carefully, holding her close while the candles slowly burned lower around the room.
And for the first time that night—
Yuna stopped asking for the impossible.
Because deep down—
She knew he wanted that baby back too.
The room had grown quieter now, the storm of emotions finally slowing into exhaustion. The candles burned lower, their soft light flickering gently across the walls while the city outside remained distant and silent. Yuna stayed close against Ethan's chest, her breathing uneven but calmer than before.
Neither of them spoke for a long time.
There was nothing left to argue about tonight.
Only grief.
Only tired hearts trying to survive the weight of it.
Yuna's fingers slowly tightened around Ethan's shirt again, softer this time, almost hesitant. She kept her head lowered for a moment before finally speaking in a quiet voice.
"Ethan…"
He looked down at her immediately. "What?"
Yuna stayed silent for a few seconds as if gathering courage for something small that suddenly felt difficult.
Then softly, almost like a child afraid of being left alone, she whispered—
"Can you sleep beside me tonight?"
Ethan's expression shifted slightly.
Yuna continued before he could answer, her voice fragile. "Just… hold me."
The words were simple.
But the sadness behind them made Ethan's chest tighten again.
"I don't want to be alone tonight," she admitted quietly. "Every time I close my eyes, I start thinking again."
Ethan looked at her silently for a moment.
Her face still carried traces of tears, her eyes swollen from crying for hours, but now there was something else too.
Fear.
Not fear of him.
Fear of being left alone with her thoughts.
Yuna lowered her gaze slightly, embarrassed by how vulnerable she sounded. "You can leave in the morning if you want," she whispered. "I just… I don't think I can sleep by myself tonight."
Something inside Ethan softened completely after hearing that.
Without saying anything immediately, he gently brushed a strand of hair away from her face. His fingers lingered there for a second before he finally answered quietly—
"Okay."
Yuna looked up at him slowly, almost surprised he agreed so easily.
Ethan stood carefully and pulled the blanket back slightly before guiding her gently onto the bed again. Yuna moved slowly, still weak, her body exhausted from both emotional pain and recovery.
Once she settled down, Ethan lay beside her quietly.
For a moment there was still a small distance between them.
Then Yuna moved closer on her own.
She rested her head carefully against his chest, one hand lightly gripping his shirt again as if reassuring herself he was really there.
Ethan's arm slowly wrapped around her waist, pulling the blanket over both of them.
The room became silent again.
But this silence felt different.
Softer.
Safer.
Yuna closed her eyes slowly, listening to the steady sound of Ethan's heartbeat beneath her ear. After everything tonight—the crying, the fighting, the heartbreak—that sound somehow calmed her more than words could.
And just before sleep finally started pulling her under, she whispered weakly against him—
"Don't let go while I'm sleeping…"
Ethan's arm tightened around her slightly.
"I won't," he murmured quietly.
And for the first time in days—
Yuna finally began to sleep without crying.