Ava's lips parted as if to ask a question, but the words faltered on her tongue. She didn't need to speak; the tremor in Amelia's gaze was enough to tell her that something heavy, something unspoken, was pressing against her chest. Fear flickered across Amelia's eyes like the faint shadow of a storm cloud, yet, buried deep within, there was still a fragile spark of hope—one that clung desperately to life as she fixed her stare on Ava, silently pleading to be understood.
"Ethan and Mason…" Amelia's voice cracked as she finally broke the silence, her hands twisting nervously in her lap. "They've never agreed on anything. Not once. And today…" Her words dissolved for a moment, swallowed by sorrow. She blinked, staring past Ava as if replaying the memory in her mind, before her voice returned in a whisper laced with grief. "Today was the first time I actually got hurt."
