Lingering

Angela cried a couple more times — in the bath and in bed until she fell asleep. It wasn't as heavy as the first one, but she still looked so broken all the same. Gael stayed with her the entire time, pulling her into his chest as his hands made soothing strokes on her body. They both lay naked under the blanket, but he didn't attempt to do anything more than comfort her.

A tiny part of him thought that perhaps she wasn't only crying about what happened tonight at dinner. That it was probably a combination of all the things she had been through in the past, given that she always held back whenever she was on the verge of letting it all go. This felt as though the last straw broke, and she lost the grip to hold on. Which was why he kept his arms around her the entire night, hoping that doing so would keep her together.