The atmosphere around the park had completely frozen by that point, the earlier noise of children playing replaced by a suffocating silence as every gaze remained fixed on the blond-haired young man standing before Damon. His body trembled visibly under that calm golden stare, his breathing uneven as though even remaining upright required effort.
Beside him, however, the little girl still failed to understand the situation entirely.
She tugged harder at her brother's sleeve, her face flushed with frustration as she pointed toward Cecelia again.
"Brother, why are you just standing there?! Say something! He's helping that dumb bit—"
Slap!
The sound rang sharply across the field.
The girl stumbled sideways from the force, her eyes widening in disbelief as she clutched her cheek, completely stunned.
The young man's hand remained raised for a moment longer, trembling violently before he lowered it and immediately bowed deeply toward Damon, almost folding in half from panic.
