(... Continued)
Their fingers remained laced.
Neither let go.
There was now only the hush of the forest remaining, a stillness that wrapped around them like a soft shawl, broken only by the sound of their own breath.
Autumn glanced sideways, eyes trailing up to his profile. The slant of his jaw, the set of his lips. He was so quiet. But it wasn't the silence of disinterest.
It was the kind of silence that listens. That aches.
Her thumb brushed ever so slightly across the back of his hand, and though he didn't react… something about the way his breath hitched told her he had noticed.
"…You know," she began softly, "I think we are supposed to be looking for the others."
He didn't even glance at her. Just walked beside her like her shadow,steady, never letting her hand slip from his.
"But I don't want to," she added, her voice even quieter this time.
A pause. Her steps slowed, almost uncertain.
