Elena’s POV

By the time Xue Man finally stood up to leave, the light outside the window had already softened into the hazy blue of early night.

She lingered at the door longer than necessary, her fingers tightening around the handle as if she were debating whether to say something else, whether there were still words she could use to wrap around me like a blanket and keep me from unraveling. In the end, she only smiled—gentle, careful, the way people do when they know smiling is the only ...