Alex froze.
His hand, still on the doorknob, went rigid. His entire body stilled, caught mid-motion like a photograph.
Lila clung to his leg with desperate strength, her naked body pressed against denim, her arms locked around him like a drowning woman clutching driftwood.
"Alex, please..."
Her voice cracked, raw and broken. Tears streamed down her face... not the manufactured kind she'd perfected, but real ones, hot and uncontrollable, blurring her vision until she could barely see him.
"Please don't go... please... I can't... I can't lose you..."
Alex didn't move. Didn't speak. Just stood there, frozen, staring down at her with that same unreadable expression.
And that silence... that terrible, crushing silence... broke something inside her.
"I love you."
The words tore from her throat like they'd been clawed out of her chest.
"Alex, I love you. I'm not... this isn't... it's not fake. It's real."
