~ Adeline ~

I don't even know how I manage to get back to my room. Everything's a little too bright, a little too quiet. My hands are trembling, but I'm not sure if it's with anger or humiliation or something else entirely.

Perhaps both.

The sound still rings in my head. I try to convince myself I misheard. Maybe it wasn't what it sounded like. Maybe he was hurting, maybe she was caring for him—

But no matter how many ways I turn it around in my head, it sounds false. The voice, the rasping ...