"Okay," I said softly.
"When you wake up, I'll take you home."
At some point, I had already made my decision.
I continued patting her back gently.
Perhaps sensing the comfort, Alicia slowly calmed down.
Her breathing gradually steadied.
Eventually, she drifted back into a deeper sleep.
I sat there quietly, looking at her sleeping face.
My mind drifted back to the last time she had been like this.
So this was how she had been enduring everything.
Calm on the surface.
But hurting alone where no one could see.
Aiden was right.
She shouldn't have been carrying all of this by herself.
My gaze fell to the faint tear stain near her eye.
A dull ache spread slowly through my chest.
Not sharp.
Not violent.
Just unbearably heavy.
Suffocating.
Aiden had said he cared about Alicia.
Was this what it felt like?
To truly care about someone?
I carefully tucked the blanket around her before quietly standing up and leaving the room.
