Soon, muscular arms wrapped around me.
Kaoru and Yoichi.
Neither said anything.
There, I surrendered to their hold and let it all out.
The fear.
The grief.
The exhaustion of trying to be brave when everything felt like it was falling apart.
Chapter forty-one
His First Bad Bitch
Nyomi
Kaoru and Yoichi had comforted me enough to go back in the theater box and feign joy.
I was too much of a coward to tell Zo that Hiroko had passed. He was enjoying himself too much with Satoshi.
I'll tell him later.
My hands didn't know where to go. They started in my lap, moved to the armrest, then came back to my lap like they were looking for a place that didn't feel like grief.
My throat kept doing this tight, dry thing as if my body were holding something my mouth refused to release.
I swallowed.
Then swallowed again.
Deja returned to my hair.
Her fingers pressed into my scalp and parted a new row.
My shoulders dropped an inch.
Then another.
She pulled a section taut and my breathing slowed.
The low hum of Zo and Satoshi’s playful conversation wrapped around me and gave my soul much needed warmth.
I closed my eyes and let the grief sit where it was—heavy but quieter now.
After a while, Zo left with Satoshi to help him get the mixture off his skin.
Time passed, and they never came back.
Maybe they were just talking. Maybe they were doing more than that.
Either way, I wasn't going to interrupt. Zo deserved to enjoy his evening. I'd tell him about Hiroko later. Tomorrow, maybe. When he was ready to hear it.
Hours later, my goddess braids were finally done.
Deja placed the mirror in front of me.
