The Day Stayed and Mark Twain 195

Chapter 195

85%

He didn’t speak right away. He just held me, thumb tracing idle strokes along my hip like he was still trying to convince himself I was real. Eventually, he shifted slightly, his face brushing my temple “Why’d you come here?” he asked, voice low but steady, more

curious than accusing.

1 blinked slowly, my mind still foggy. The world outside the room fel distant–blurry, unreal. I almost forgot why I’d come in the first place… until the memory hit me all at once. The woods. The cabin. The endless night. Time bending like a broken thread.

“Oh,” I murmured, lifting my head enough to look at him. “I–Zayn, ‘s… it’s Thursday.”

He huffed a soft breath, not surprised. “I know.”

“You know?” I pushed up on my elbow, studying his face. “How?”

“When I came back,” he said quietly, eyes flicking toward the door as if he could still see it, “my phone lit up with the date. I thought it was wrong. Or maybe I’d lost my mind in the woods. But.. yeah. I knew.”

I sank back down beside him, resting my cheek on his chest again. His hand slid slowly through my hair, calming, grounding. “I

wanted to tell you. It didn’t feel real. Still doesn’t.”

“I know,” he whispered. “None of it does.”

We lay there for a moment, the silence stretching comfortably for the first time since the cabin. His fingers kept threading through my hair, slow and thoughtful, until he paused–mid–stroke, mid–breath.

“Aurora?”

“Mhm?

33

“Kael.”

I pulled back just enough to look up at him, disbelief tightening my hest. “Are you seriously bringing him up right now?”

His brow lifted, unbothered. “Yeah. I am.”

“Zayn,” I said, incredulous, “we literally-”

“I know what we did,” he cut in softly. “And I’m not pretending it didn’t happen.” His hand slid from my hair to the back of my

shoulder, keeping me close. “But I want to know.”

“Know what?”

His eyes met mine, steady and dark. “If you slept with him.” A beat. Or anyone.” Another beat, quieter. “Since the first time… with

me.”

My breath caught–not from anger, but from the way he asked it. No a demand. Not suspicion. Just raw vulnerability wrapped in the

12:19 Thu Jan 29 BCE.

sharpness of his wice

“Ya,” I said, the word slipping out before he finished the thought. Z m. I haven’t?

<38590

His jaw eased, the tension in his shoulders loosening like a string finally out. He didn’t say anything right away- let out a slow

breach, simenting ungrien sending between 5.

I reached up and touched his cheet lightly, my fingertips brushing the faint stubble along his jaw. “I haven’t been with anone else.” I repeated sofer Not Tael. Not anyone

Zaju dosed his eyes for a second, like he needed that moment to let the words land. When he opened them again, something in his gaze had changed–less guarded, less angry, touched with something deeper he wasn’t ready to name

He pulled me back into the circle of his arms, tucking me beneath his chin, his grip just tight enough to feel like a promise neither

of as had said out loud.

I should… probably shower I marmured, stretching the words out in a reluctant whisper

His hand paused mid–stroke. Teah, he said quietly, his voice growing hoarse with amusement or something close to it. “Dow

gould

I swatted kim lightly in the rics, refusing to fit my head. “Don’t

“What?” he asked, trying and falling–to hide the smile in his voice I didn’t say anything”

I pulled away just enough to glare at him, but he only locked back with lazy satisfaction, eyes lowered, dark and warm. It made my stomach flip, which only made me want to hide again.

61

Write Comments

<SHARE

admin