? ???????? ???????

[december 19, 2004]

when morning came, y/n stirred with a soft groan, her face scrunching up in protest against the light filtering through the curtains. her head throbbed faintly, a dull ache nestled at the base of her skull, and she instinctively brought a hand up to rub at her temple.

everything felt stiff, sore—not in a painful way, but in the kind of way that came from emotional exhaustion more than anything else. as she sat up, another small sound left her throat— half-yawn, half-whine— her movements sluggish and heavy with sleep. she blinked a few times, eyes still adjusting, and reached up to run her fingers through her hair...or at least try to. strands stuck up in different directions, tangled from sleep and stress alike, and she sighed under her breath. there was no way she was looking in a mirror right now. for a second, she just sat there, letting the quiet of the room settle around her.

then her eyes began to roam slowly, sweeping across the familiar space until she tried to piece everything together. flashes of the night before flickered behind her eyes—coming to the rental, her and mike's argument, kaden's voice and his tired face, the warmth of his back when she leaned on him in the kitchen...the food, the silence, the tension. it all felt like a fever dream. surreal.

she rubbed her eyes again, harder this time, as if that might somehow ground her. when she blinked them open again, she glanced toward the door—and that's when she saw it: a shape on the floor. a dark spot at first, but it shifted just enough to make her breath catch.

alarm prickled at her spine as she immediately moved toward the edge of the bed, her blanket falling to her lap in a quiet bunch. her feet hovered above the ground for a second before she leaned over slightly and looked down. there he was...

kaden.

he was curled slightly on his side, his chest rising and falling in the slow, rhythmic cadence of sleep. one arm was tucked beneath his head, the other resting loosely by his torso. despite his usual sharp, intimidating aura, there was something painfully soft about the way he looked now. his brows weren't drawn together, his jaw wasn't clenched—he looked...peaceful.

vulnerable, even.

his short brown hair stuck up awkwardly in places, clearly mussed from the night on the floor, and the faint stubble along his jaw had grown just a little thicker since the last time she'd properly looked at him.

so, last night really did happen...

her heart squeezed in her chest. as messy, confusing, and heavy as it had been...kaden had come. he'd stayed. he was here. y/n exhaled slowly, her fingers curling around the blanket as she pulled it closer to her chest, eyes still fixed on the man sleeping just below her. part of her wanted to reach down—maybe brush his hair back or just feel the warmth of his skin to prove this wasn't just another dream.

but she didn't.

she just sat there, watching him breathe, unsure of what came next. y/n then bit her lower lip, teeth digging in just enough to sting, as she sat perched at the edge of the mattress, her gaze still locked onto kaden's sleeping form on the floor. he hadn't moved much— just the occasional twitch of a hand or the slow shift of his shoulders with every breath— but it was more than enough to make her heart feel heavier in her chest. why did she do this?