“As I was saying. I was thinking about your name. Oren… it means tree, doesn’t it?” I say with a slight slur.
“Yes,” he says shortly.
“Somehow it seems fitting,” I murmur, almost to myself. Then I look up at him—well, at the side of his face. “Do you wanna know what mine is?”
Once again, he doesn’t do as much as react, but I know he’s listening.
“Mallory,” I say, smiling faintly. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
“Kai,” I say after he doesn’t respond, my voice softer now. “I’m sorry.”
And of course, that gets his attention. He glances down at me, his brows drawing together. “For what?”
“About your sister,” I say absent-mindedly.
Kai stops dead in his tracks. I feel his whole body go rigid, his arms tightening slightly around me. For a moment, I think he’s going to drop me again, but he doesn’t.
“What about it?” he asks, his voice low and controlled, but there’s an edge to it that wasn’t there before.
“It must have been very painful for you,” I mumble, my eyes barely open now.
Kai doesn’t say anything, but after a beat, he starts walking again. His steps slower this time.
“I just know what it’s like losing someone you love,” I slur, my head resting against his shoulder. “It never gets better, does it?”
“No,” Kai says quietly. “It doesn’t.”
I don’t respond for a few long seconds, mostly because my thoughts aren’t entirely in focus. The next thing I know, we’re at a door. Kai pushes it open, the hinges creaking softly.
“Goodbyes never get easier,” I murmur, my voice barely audible now. “We just get better at hiding the pain.”
For the first time, Kai glances down at me, his expression unreadable. But there’s something softer there. It makes me smile, a hazy, sleepy grin.
“Cute freckles,” I mumble, poking his nose gently with my index finger, before yawning, turning to my side, and stretching my arms out around the pillow.
“Adeline?” Kai’s voice comes after a pause.
I crack an eye open, half-asleep, half-drunk. “Hm?”
“Why did you do it?”
My brows pull together. “Do what?”
“Why did you drink tonight?” he asks quietly.
I sigh, my face sinking deeper into the pillow. “My mum died today. And I wanted to forget,” I murmur. “I just wanted to forget how much it hurts.”
It’s silent for a while, and Kai says nothing.
“Kai?” I ask against the pillow.
“Yeah?”
“What does ‘Soreya’ mean?” I finally ask him the burning question that’s been torturing my thoughts for longer than I want to admit.
He’s silent again, and for a moment, I think he hasn’t heard me.
“Nothing. Go to sleep.”
