Alicia's lips parted, but no words came.
The heat in Adrien's gaze seared her—not with anger, but with something far more dangerous.
Love.
Not the kind found in fairytales or fleeting kisses beneath starlight. No, this was love honed through pain. Love that didn't ask—it demanded. That wrapped around her like fire, furious and consuming, refusing to let go.
And she wasn't ready for that.
Her body moved before her thoughts could catch up—one step back. Just one.
But it was enough.
Adrien saw it. Felt it like a blade to the chest.
His jaw clenched, that barely-there muscle near his temple twitching as he swallowed whatever it was threatening to crack through his composure.
"You still don't believe me," he said, his voice low—too calm, too hollow.
"It's not that…" she whispered, eyes darting anywhere but him. "It's just—" Her voice faltered, the words thick in her throat. "I don't know how to believe something like that… not when I don't even know who I am."
