Yanire speaks finally, after a few minutes have passed with Adriel's soft crying as the chorus.
"Adriel."
He cannot look up at her but he nods to signal that he is listening.
"Would you be alright with a hug?"
His eyes shoot up at her then, cheeks damp from crying and eyes red. His expression is one of complete shock. If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought he'd never had a hug in his life. When his initial shock had died down, he nodded.
With confirmation that he was alright with it, Yanire rose from the rug and sat what she thought to be a fair distance away from him. She then wrapped her arms carefully around his shoulder and held him like she might one of the book club women who'd had a rough day at work.
The man seemed awkward at first until his tense shoulders relaxed. Unbeknownst to Yanire, he hadn't been hugged by anyone in a very long time. Not since the last time he'd seen Asia actually.
They sit together for a while with no words passing between them and then Adriel pulls away a little. Yanire lets go and pulls a little away from him on the sofa. He wipes the tears away, gathering himself again and turning to Yanire.
"Thank you."
The woman shrugs nonchalantly. To comfort someone in need was hardly a difficult task and she was content with doing so. He turns to look at her and furrows his brows, contemplating something. Finally his curiosity wins over and he questions her.
"Why do you cry at night?"
__________________________________________________________________
Yanire grew very obviously sceptical and suspicious. Seeing the way her expression contorted, Adriel swiftly begins to explain himself.
"Our rooms are only that L-segment of the hall away and these walls are notably thin. Sorry, I don't mean to pry."
Yanire felt a little relieved but still a bit embarrassed at the sentiment.
"Err, I tried to use headphones at first, it seemed too intrusive to ask about. But they didn't do me much good really and I sort of just waited it out."
Yanire sighed, wiping the embarrassment away with her hands before turning to him.
"I will tell you about it, but I'd ask that you keep it to yourself."
The man nodded, staring at her curiously.
Yanire had long worked through the emotions of it all, and talking about it had become surprisingly easy in light of that.
"For five years, I lived in Virginia with my ex-husband and my son, Joeri."
Adriel could not hide his surprise, she had never mentioned a family before.
"It was difficult, to be honest. My husband was an insecure man and he made it a point to bring me down to his level. I was not to leave the house outside of my book club, he had Life 360 on my phone to ensure that was the only place I went. He also dictated my wardrobe and other obscenities."
Adriel's brows furrowed and there was a hint of what Yanire recognised as disgust.
"Yeah, he was a prick. Anyhow, my son Joeri, he was an angel."
Adriel frowned at the 'was' as it left her lips.
"He was fluent in English, Martien had started teaching him Dutch too. We would play piano together, and he liked to make his own melodies and play with the keys. Martien used to complain at the keys getting tiny fingerprints on them, but really I could tell he liked seeing our son play."
Yanire almost smiled but hesitated.
"He was the only beautiful thing to come from that marriage, and when he died, it left me with zero reason to be around Martien any longer."
Adriel flinched.
"Car crash. Martien had been drinking before he went to pick Joeri up from Dutch class."
Her face was unmistakably bitter and enraged. Adriel was certain that, given half the opportunity, Yanire would have taken Martien's life.
"I escaped him and fled to my only family in America, my sister Emesta. She's an awkward young girl but harmless, and she's certainly going places."
Yanire's face contorted to an emotion the man could not describe.
"Then I got a phone call from my mother. At first, I was happy to hear her voice. Until I realised that Martien was using her as a ploy to figure out where I was. I sort of fell into a panic, terrified."
Adriel nodded, easily able to make sense of her emotional state in that instance.
"So Emesta put me on a cruiser ship headed for London. I was to escape and start a new life somewhere that it would be difficult for him to track me down."
Her face had a mild amusement at the next bit.
"Then my damned ship crashed on a damned isolated island in the middle of the Atlantic, and I came to realise I was trapped here."
Adriel shrugged, considering her sentiments on the matter to be fair.
"Sorry about that."
Yanire shrugged back. She knew why he'd made the decision she had. Her face then became very sombre as she stared directly at the man.
"I have nightmares about them. Martien, Joeri. It is difficult, but ever since I've taken to your mother's piano, they have gone away for the most part."
Adriel's face was contented, having solved that mystery.
"I'm sorry, Yanire. That's horrible."
She nodded to him, staring once more at the tiredness in his eyes and exhaustion in his body. He was dozing off slightly before her now. It was obvious he would fall asleep on the sofa. Yanire rose and walked over to his bed quietly, scooping up the comforter from it and walked back to Adriel.
She laid it atop of him gently, not wanting to stir him from sleep. It was clear he had his own issues with resting and that was something she understood intimately.
With the blanket secure, she slipped out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.