It felt as though the whole room had turned silent. Time froze, and people stopped blinking. Someone had spoken, and it wasn’t Griffin. Dorothy’s body finally found motion, and she turned her head to stare at Stefan.

He had a different expression on his face—different from the usual depressed look. He seemed taken aback.

“What… what did you just say?” Dorothy asked. Stefan didn’t answer. Instead, he shook his head.

“Stefan, you just spoke! You just spoke! ...