Ethan sat down beside her on the couch, his hands instinctively reaching out to grab hers. He held them gently in his own, the touch grounding her.
"Petal," he said quietly, his eyes searching her face again, "you don't have to act tough all the time. Not with me."
It was a small nod, but it was a surrender nonetheless. The walls she had so stubbornly built around her emotions were slowly crumbling, the facade of strength she had been maintaining cracking.
Ethan could see the exhaustion in her eyes, the weight of her emotions finally catching up to her. She looked fragile, but it was also a sign of trust, a silent admission that she trusted him enough to let him see her vulnerability.
His grip on her hands tightened a fraction, the feel of her warm, soft skin under his palms grounding him. He wanted to say so many things, to reassure her, to fix the things that had hurt her.
