Ahmed returned to sit beside her, and this time the air between them was lighter, as if a piece of the invisible wall had begun to crack. He placed the paper bag in her hands without saying anything, just that calm gaze that was used to being his first voice.
Misaki looked at the bag, then at him... her gaze this time was different—more grateful, less cautious. She slowly reached out her hand, as if she were afraid to break this moment of peace, then she opened the bag and began to eat quietly, bite after bite, as if she wasn't just eating,but reclaiming something she had lost a long time ago: the feeling of being cared for.
Ahmed sat and watched her in silence, not with words, but with eyes filled with contentment. He didn't need to speak—it was enough for him to see the reassurance gradually returning to her tired features.
In one moment, their eyes met. It wasn't a long gaze, and it wasn't accompanied by any big smile. But it was enough. A look holding a hidden promise, and an unspoken acknowledgment... that this encounter was not fleeting, and that a small thing, but a real one, had begun to sprout between two hearts that differed in homeland, but shared the same sky.