Seth's POV
The swing creaked softly beneath us.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
The chains gave a low metallic groan with every movement, swaying gently under our weight.
The night air had grown cooler now.
A breeze drifted through the garden, carrying the scent of damp grass and flowers from the trimmed hedges nearby. Somewhere above us, tree branches rustled softly against one another.
Behind us, the hotel still pulsed with life.
Music.
Laughter.
Footsteps.
Voices rising and falling.
Glasses clinking.
Everything blended into one distant blur of noise.
A world still moving.
Still celebrating.
Still breathing.
But none of it reached us.
Not really.
Not where we sat.
Ashley sat beside me with her head lowered.
Her shoulders had sunk.
Her fingers remained tightly locked together in her lap, twisting against each other unconsciously.
She looked small suddenly.
Not physically.
Just... small in the way people looked after something inside them had cracked open.
