I groaned, covering my chest with my arms and stomping toward her. “Don’t ask. Just give me some clothes.”
Valeria shook her head, then disappeared into the bedroom and returned a moment later with some cozy clothes—ones that actually fit me.
I took them from her and pulled them on while she dropped onto the couch like her bones had given up on holding her together. Her head fell back against the cushions.
“God,” she muttered, voice rough. “I feel like shit.”
I glanced at her, taking in the pallor, the glassy eyes, the way her hands trembled slightly. “Let me make you something. Food, tea—”
“Wait.”
Her voice stopped me.
“Just… sit with me.”
I hesitated for a second, then moved toward her and sat down.
She just moved—slowly, like it took effort—and curled into me, pressing her face into my chest, arms wrapping around me like she needed to anchor herself. Her head tucked under my chin, fitting there too easily.
My arms came around her without thinking.
I could feel how tense she was, how something inside her was barely holding together.
So I didn’t speak.
We just sat there in silence.
“You know what’s funny?” she murmured after a while.
I hummed softly.
“They didn’t need to drug me,” she said with a hollow laugh. “I probably would’ve let them fuck me anyway.”
My grip tightened around her.
What the hell is she saying?
“You don’t mean that,” I said quietly.
“This is just a body, Kira,” she said, almost absently. “A useless, pathetic shell.”
Something in my chest twisted painfully.
I pulled her closer, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.
She didn’t react—just stayed there, heavy in my arms, and I knew.She was broken too. Maybe that was why we had clicked so fast. She never talked about it, never tried to explain, but it lived in the spaces between her words, in the way she said things like that, as if she were already a step removed from herself.
Carefully, I shifted, tilting her face up just enough to look at her.
“Lera… you want to talk?”
Her eyes met mine—vulnerable for a split second before something shut behind them again.
She shook her head slightly.
A pause.
Then, with a faint attempt at something lighter:
