Ray froze at first. Then slowly, painfully, he clung back. His hands gripped the back of her shirt like he was afraid she'd disappear.
And Lilith… she didn't sob.
She didn't scream.
But her tears came anyway.
One slipped from her left eye, warm and silent.
Then another rolled from the right, falling gently against his shoulder.
She didn't make a sound—but it hurt more than if she had cried out.
Ray's voice was muffled, shaking in her hair. "Why does it have to be like this…?" he whispered brokenly. "Why do we have to go through weird things like this? Why can't we just be… normal?"
Lilith didn't answer.
Because she didn't know either.
She only held him tighter but the moment didn't last.
Ray's arms loosened. His body, once clinging tightly, slowly pulled away from her embrace like something inside him had shattered too deeply to stay held.
He broke the hug.
And the moment he did, everything broke with it.
