Chapter IX - Is this healthy?
Long time no see. Hello there. I'm slowly trying to get back to "normal."
I hope you enjoy the next chapter.
XO
***
Nyx entered the office later than usual the next morning. Not rushed, not apologetic.
Just late in a deliberate way, as if she had finally stopped shaping herself around other people's expectations.
The glass doors slid shut behind her with a muted sound, and immediately the atmosphere shifted. She felt it before anyone even looked at her directly.
The tension and whispers dragged too low beneath breaths. The way conversations fractured the second her heels touched the concrete floor.
Her coat hung loosely from her shoulders, dark fabric brushing against her thighs with every measured step. The onyx around her neck rested against her skin like armor now.
A reminder.
A mark.
Something grounding.
People watched her. Of course they did. They watched because she had disappeared shattered and returned standing upright.
And people hated not understanding something called survival.
Nyx reached her desk calmly, setting down her bag before turning on her computer. Her fingers moved steadily over familiar objects like coffee mug, notebook, pen. Small rituals of control.
Then she heard it. Quiet, almost swallowed by the room itself.
"Have you heard?" - Another voice answered carefully.
"They say Noah's obsessed with her now."
"Like... genuinely obsessive. That he watches everyone around her. That he controls everything."
"And Christian? Apparently he's devastated. Betrayed or whatever."
Nyx lowered her eyes briefly toward her monitor, her pulse fluttered once, but not from fear, but from something else.
Because the rumor wasn't entirely wrong. Noah did watch everything.
Every expression, every shift in tone, every person who stood too close to her desk for too long. Even every subtle change in her breathing when certain names were spoken aloud. He watched her like someone guarding the last fragile thing left in a collapsing world. And the terrifying part in this?
No... She relied on it. On him.
The office doors opened again a few minutes later and Noah entered without hurry, dressed in black as always, exhaustion hidden beneath sharp composure. Conversations weakened almost immediately around him, though nobody openly stopped speaking. They simply... adjusted.
Like prey sensing a predator nearby without looking directly at it. Noah paused briefly near the entrance, his eyes swept once across the room.
Reading.
Measuring.
Absorbing.
Nyx felt his attention touch her before he even looked at her directly. That horrible instinct between them had become too strong now. Like invisible thread pulled permanently taut beneath her ribs.
Then his gaze landed on her.
Briefly.
Only a second.
Enough for her lungs to tighten softly inside her chest. He didn't smile, didn't nod or didn't acknowledge her publicly. He simply looked away again after confirming she was there, safe, breathing, untouched and somehow that felt even more intimate.
Noah disappeared into his office behind the glass walls, but Nyx could still feel him there. Heavy, constant. Like a storm waiting patiently in the distance. The whispers started again eventually, because people always circled back to curiosity. Jolly muttered something quietly near the coffee machine. Someone else laughed nervously.
"...it's honestly creepy how protective he is."
"Yeah, like he thinks she belongs to him."
That sentence. Nyx heard it clearly. And before anyone could continue talking - Noah moved. Office seemed to notice instantly. Conversations dimmed without instruction as he crossed the room with slow, unwavering steps. Not angry, that would've been easier.
Noah looked calm, controlled like always which was far worse.
Nyx looked up from her monitor the moment he stopped beside her desk. Close. Maybe too close for normal coworkers, but perfectly close for Noah.
He didn't ask permission to stand there. Didn't explain himself. His silence itself became territorial. A wall built carefully around her. People looked away almost immediately. Noah leaned one hand lightly against the edge of her desk and lowered his gaze toward her. His eyes softened instantly the second they landed on Nyx, the sharpness in him reshaping into something possessive and unbearably attentive.
Something like "There you are." - sentence existed unspoken between them and Nyx felt heat crawl slowly beneath her skin, because Noah's hand lifted then, slow enough for her to stop him if she wanted to.
His fingers brushed a stubborn strand of brown hair away from her face before tucking it gently behind her ear. The touch barely lasted a second, but the intimacy of it poisoned the entire room. Not sexual. Worse. Somethin very protective and claiming. The kind of tenderness that implied violence if anyone dared hurt her again. Nyx saw several people glance away uncomfortably.
For months she had been the one shrinking herself to survive the atmosphere around her. Now the atmosphere bent around her instead because Noah made it bend. Her lips curved slightly, tiny, almost invisible. But Noah noticed it immediately. Of course he did.
That faint smile hit him like a drug directly into his bloodstream. His jaw tightened subtly as he looked at her, something dark and devoted flickering behind his eyes. He would've destroyed anyone in this room for that expression on her face. And fuck... Nyx knew it. And instead of fearing it, she let herself lean into that feeling. Not dependence, not weakness... but trust.
Deep enough now that she no longer panicked when Noah stepped into her space. Deep enough that his presence no longer felt suffocating.
It felt safe... Safe in a dangerous way.
Noah lowered his head slightly toward her then, close enough that his voice couldn't travel further than her desk.
- Ignore them. - he murmured quietly. Nyx looked at him for a long second before answering.
- I do. - And she was, because for the first time in months, she realized something terrifyingly liberating: People were no longer whispering about her because she looked weak. They whispered because she no longer looked untouchable.
Noah straightened slowly beside her desk, his eyes briefly scanning the office again. Cold, warning look. Possessive enough that silence spread naturally in his wake. Then his gaze returned to Nyx one last time.
Softer. Always softer for her.
And Nyx felt it againโthat deep, unfamiliar power blooming low in her chest. Not because Noah controlled her, but because he gave her space to stop being afraid.
And maybe that was the darkest thing about the two of them now.
Nyx no longer wanted him to stop.
***
The next morning, Christian was already in the office when Nyx arrived.
He stood near the coffee machine, one hand wrapped around a paper cup that had long since gone cold, pretending to scroll through emails on his phone. But the second the glass doors opened, his attention shifted automatically.
Nyx entered with slow, unhurried confidence, the kind that didn't ask permission to exist anymore.
Something about her looked different again. Not louder, but sharper and more deliberate.
The fitted dark jeans traced the curve of her hips with effortless elegance, the soft blouse resting against her body in a way that highlighted how much weight she had lost during those terrible weeks, but now, instead of making her look fragile, it somehow emphasized her recovery. Her pale collarbones caught faint morning light beneath the delicate black chain around her neck. The onyx stone rested there like a secret only a few people understood. Her hair was twisted into that messy bun again, strands slipping free around her throat and shoulders, softening the dangerous calm she carried now.
Christian couldn't stop staring, because this wasn't the Iris he remembered anymore. The old Iris used to enter rooms trying not to disturb them, this one walked in like she already knew she could survive whatever waited inside.
Conversations dimmed subtly as she passed between desks. Someone greeted her carefully. Someone else moved out of her path without realizing it.
She smiled politely and calmly. As if she could feel every pair of eyes on her and no longer cared about that. Christian frowned harder, something ugly twisted low in his stomach. Because she looked good... Confident. Feminine in a way she had never allowed herself to be around him before, and suddenly he hated that Noah was the one having it now.
The office doors opened again several minutes later. Noah entered quietly, one glance across the room โ and he found her instantly. Christian noticed that the exact second it happened. Noah's entire body changed. Not dramatically, not enough for anyone careless to catch it, but Christian saw the subtle stillness that overtook him. The darkening focus in his gaze. The immediate awareness that sharpened every line of his posture.
Like something deep inside him locked onto Nyx and refused to release her again. Noah started walking before anyone greeted him straight toward her. Nyx looked up from her desk the moment he approached, and Christian felt his jaw tighten at how naturally her expression softened for him.
Not weak.
Never weak anymore.
Noah stopped close enough that the edge of his black sleeve brushed her chair slightly. He didn't speak at first, his eyes moved over her carefully, attentively, absorbing details with the quiet obsession that had become impossible to separate from him. The fitted clothes, the exposed line of her throat, the loose strands of hair framing her face. And Godโ the fact that she looked alive again. Something dangerous flickered behind Noah's eyes, and his hand lifted. Slowly and confidently. He brushed one strand of hair behind her ear with intimate familiarity, fingertips grazing softly against her cheek before sliding lower, resting briefly against the side of her neck.
Because Noah touched her like someone who already knew exactly how she reacted to him. Like someone who had memorized her.
Nyx didn't move away. If anything, she leaned into the touch almost imperceptibly. Noah's thumb brushed once against the black chain around her throat before his fingers closed around the uneven onyx stone resting against her skin.
Christian's stomach dropped.
Nobody ever touched that necklace.
Iris used to pull away if someone even looked at it for too long, but Noah held the stone carefully between his fingers now, turning it slightly, his gaze lowering with frightening focus. This gesture wasn't accidental... It was possessive in the most terrifyingly restrained way possible.
Not ownership, but something worse.
Like Noah understood that the necklace wasn't jewelry at all. It was part of her and because of that, touching it became intimate enough to feel almost sacred.
Nyx watched him quietly beneath lowered lashes, her breathing was steady. She let him touch it. Let him stand too close. She let him invade the space nobody else had ever been allowed to enter.
And Christian realized with sudden horror that Noah wasn't forcing his way into Nyx's world.
She was opening the door for him herself.
Noah's fingers tightened slightly around the stone before he let it slide back gently against her chest. The movement pulled her barely closer for half a second.
Enough to make Christian feel sick.
Because Noah looked at her afterward with something raw buried beneath all that control. Something starving. Something that had become too attached to her existence to survive losing it now. And Nyx saw it too. No... It was worse - she understood exactly what it did to him.
A faint smile touched her lips.
Noah's jaw flexed immediately in response. Every muscle in his body seemed to react to her without permission now. Christian suddenly understood why people had started whispering about obsession. Because this wasn't normal protection anymore. Noah watched Nyx like breathing depended on her remaining safe. Like her sadness physically damaged him. Like every smile she gave him became something he stored away obsessively inside his ribs.
And Nyx... Nyx had learned how to wield it. Not cruelly or manipulatively. But consciously. She stood taller beneath his attention now. Stronger. Safer.
The terrified girl Christian once controlled through guilt and confusion was gone... In her place stood someone who knew exactly where her power lived now.
Noah shifted then - one single step. Enough for his body to partially block Christian's line of sight toward her. The movement was subtle, deadly calm, no aggression in it. No words. Just a silent message written into every inch of his posture: You don't get access to her anymore.
Christian felt tension crawl sharply up his spine, because Noah didn't look like a jealous man. He looked like a guardian animal standing over something precious enough to kill for. Nyx noticed the slight tremor beneath Noah's restraint. The microscopic twitch in his fingers. The tightness in his shoulders whenever Christian kept staring too long.
And instead of shrinking from it, she felt powerful. For once, someone else's obsession wasn't trapping her.
Every glance Noah gave her felt like armor wrapped carefully around her body. Every protective instinct radiating from him reminded her that nobody would ever make her feel small again while he stood there.
She tilted her head slightly toward him with a smile, like a silent reward. Noah inhaled slowly. His eyes darkened immediately.
Every tiny reaction from her fed something ravenous inside him now.
The trust, the closeness, the fact she no longer flinched when he entered her space. It destroyed whatever restraint he still pretended to have.
She could see it in the way his attention followed every movement she made. In the way his body remained subtly angled toward hers no matter who spoke around him. In the way his eyes softened only for her and hardened instantly for everyone else. A thread stretched between them then: tight and silent.
Noah stared at her openly now, every instinct in him focused entirely on her existence. Her breathing. Her posture. The faint smile still lingering at the corner of her mouth.
Every little thing she did fueled him, fed the obsession growing heavier inside his chest every single day because Noah no longer simply protected Nyx.
And standing there beneath his gaze, wrapped in the terrifying safety of his devotion, Nyx realized something equally dangerous. She liked what he became for her. And Noah, watching her stand there confident, calm, untouchable beneath his protection, felt, for the first time in a very long time, victorious.
***
Days blurred together beneath the pressure of tour preparations. Sleepless nights, endless revisions, flights discussed, schedules rewritten, equipment lists spread across tables like battle plans. The entire office breathed tension. People snapped more easily, drank too much coffee, forgot to eat, forgot to sleep.
But Nyx changed within that chaos. Not loudly or dramatically.
She moved through the office with a calmness that no longer looked fragile. Her shoulders no longer curled inward when someone raised their voice across the room. Loud laughter no longer made her flinch. She no longer apologized every time she needed space, needed silence, needed to exist. And Noah noticed every single difference with a kind of terrifying devotion that bordered on worship.
The black onyx resting against her throat had once been untouchable, sacred, a thing she clutched during panic attacks until her fingers hurt, until the stone left marks in her palm... A month ago, if anyone had reached for it, she would have recoiled instinctively. Now Noah touched it more often than she did.
Sometimes absentmindedly while passing behind her chair, his fingers would slide beneath the dark strand of her hair, brushing the stone with slow familiarity. Sometimes while speaking to her, he would hook the chain between two tattooed fingers and tug her attention back toward him so subtly nobody else would notice.
Except Nicholas noticed. Nicholas noticed everything.
At first, it wasn't obvious. It crept beneath the skin slowly, like hearing feedback in a mix before anyone else catches it. Wrong. Too sharp. Too present. He stood by the coffee machine one afternoon, paper cup warming his hand, and watched Noah through the glass wall of the office.
Noah stood by the window with papers in his hand, eyes lowered as if reading. But Nicholas realized after almost a full minute that he hadn't turned a single page. Hadn't blinked much either, because he wasn't reading.
Nyx sat several meters away at one of the long tables, bent over a notebook. Her brown hair was loosely tied up, messy strands escaping around her pale neck. The black stone at her throat swayed gently every time she leaned forward. She laughed quietly at something one of the coworkers said, then bit the end of her pen while thinking.
An innocent gesture.
Small.
Meaningless.
And yet Noah's entire body reacted to it. Not outwardly. Not enough for most people to catch. But Nicholas saw the way his jaw flexed once. The way his fingers tightened around the papers hard enough to wrinkle them. The way his gaze darkened with something almost feverish.
Possession. Raw and animalistic possession.
As if every unconscious gesture Nyx made fed something inside him that had long stopped behaving like reason.Nicholas slowly lowered his cup.
- ...Jesus Christ. - he muttered under his breath. Jolly appeared beside him a moment later, pouring coffee into an old cracked mug.
- What? - he asked distractedly. Nicholas didn't answer immediately. He only tilted his head slightly toward Noah. Jolly followed his gaze.
The office remained loud around them. Keyboards clacking, someone laughing near the printers. Music filtering faintly through speakers. Phones vibrating against desks.
Noah heard none of it, because his entire existence narrowed down to one point.
He watched her with an intensity that didn't resemble ordinary love anymore. It looked primal. Vigilant. Like he was guarding the last living thing left in the world. As if the room itself were a threat.
- Fuck... - Jolly whispered afterr seeing that. Nicholas exhaled sharply through his nose.
- Right? - he murmured quietly. - Tell me I'm not insane. You see that, right? - Jolly stared a moment longer.
- No, you're not. - he said slowly. - No, because I see it too.
At that exact moment, someone hurried past Nyx's chair. Their shoulder accidentally clipped the backrest. It was barely anything, a tiny bump.
But Noah moved instantly.
The papers hit the desk before Nicholas even consciously processed that Noah had left the office. One second he stood by the window โ the next he was beside her. Not fast, not frantic. That was the disturbing part.
He moved with terrifying certainty.
Like instinct had taken over long before thought could catch up.
He stepped directly behind Nyx's chair, body angling automatically between her and the rest of the room. Closing space, blocking access, claiming her. Nyx looked up in surprise, pulling the pen slowly from between her lips.
- Noah? - she asked softly. - Is something wrong?
- No. - he answered too fast and sharp. As if his mind had only just realized his body had already decided she might be in danger. His hand settled against the back of her neck - gentle, but heavy. And possessive.
Anchoring himself to her.
And Nyx... God. Nyx melted into it naturally. No fear. No hesitation.
Her shoulders loosened beneath his touch almost instantly, exhaustion leaving her body in visible waves. She tilted her head back slightly against his stomach without even thinking about it, eyes returning calmly to her notebook as though his presence there was the most natural thing in the world. Like she trusted him more than her own nervous system.
Nicholas felt cold crawl down his spine.
- The bastard's marking her. - he muttered before he could stop himself. Jolly turned sharply.
- Dude....
- I'm not saying literally. - Nicholas rubbed his face. - But look at them. - And Jolly looked, because once you saw it, you couldn't unsee it anymore. Noah's hand remained on her neck while his eyes scanned the office over her head. Watching everyone. Measuring distances. Reading movements. Every person who got too close made something tighten visibly in his posture. And Nyx... she knew. That was the worst part.
She knew exactly what his attention did to people now.
Knew the office had begun stepping around her more carefully because Noah hovered around her like violence wrapped in devotion. Knew whispers died when he entered rooms. Knew people watched their tone around her because his gaze alone felt like a threat. And somewhere along the line, Nyx had stopped shrinking from that power.
She leaned into it, but not maliciously. Nor even cruelly.
But after spending so much of her life feeling powerless, Noah's obsession became something terrifyingly comforting. Like standing inside the walls of a fortress built entirely around her body. He watched for her exhaustion before she noticed it herself, he watched who looked at her too long, or who interrupted her. Watched every doorway she walked through like something horrible might be waiting on the other side.
And Nyx had begun breathing easier inside that darkness.
Jolly swallowed hard.
- This isn't just jealousy anymore...
- No. - Nicholas replied quietly. - It's worse. This is very possessive and unhealthy... Because jealousy still implied insecurity... - Nicholas gestured to the other two while searching for the right words. - Fuck, this isnโt insecurity. This is ownership trying desperately to disguise itself as protection. - They watched Noah lean down slightly toward her, saying something too quiet to hear. Nyx smiled faintly at whatever it was โ soft and genuine in a way Nicholas hadn't seen in months. Then Noah's fingers brushed beneath her jaw for just a second before he guided her farther down the hall under the excuse of discussing schedules. But his hand never fully left her. Always touching. Always keeping contact.
As though some part of him panicked the moment she drifted too far away.
Nicholas stared after them and for the first time since all of this started, something inside him twisted uneasily.
Meanwhile Noah looked like a man starving to death while standing in front of the only thing keeping him alive.
People like that became dangerous without even realizing it.
***
The day dragged on beneath fluorescent lights and the endless hum of conversations, keyboards, printers, footsteps. The office breathed around them like some restless creature that never truly slept. But Nicholas could no longer focus on work. Because once he noticed it, he saw it everywhere. Noah's eyes following Nyx every time she crossed a room, the way his body subtly repositioned itself whenever someone stood too close to her desk, how his attention snapped toward her even in the middle of conversations, like some invisible thread tied beneath his ribs pulled tight every time she moved.
It wasn't normal anymore, and Nicholas needed to know if she understood that. Finding Iris alone, however, felt almost impossible because Noah was always there. Maybe not beside her directly, maybe not touching her, but present. Orbiting. Watching.
Finally, Nicholas found her in the cafeteria kitchen near the back of the office. She stood by the counter pouring herself water, calm and composed in that quiet way she'd learned lately. Sunlight filtered weakly through the windows, catching against the dark onyx at her throat.
And Noah... of course Noah was there too.
A few meters away, leaning one shoulder lazily against the wall near the doorway, speaking quietly with someone from production. He looked relaxed, easygoing and like always. But Nicholas felt him instantly, like pressure against the spine. Like standing too close to something dangerous pretending to sleep.
- Hey, Iris. - Nicholas said gently as he approached. Nyx turned toward him immediately, and the softness in her smile caught him off guard. Months ago, her smiles always looked cautious, fragile, like something offered with apology. Now it reached her eyes.
- Hi, Nicky. - she replied warmly. -What's up? - She lifted the glass to her lips. Small and calm movements someone who finally learning how to exist without bracing for impact. Nicholas leaned lightly against the counter, careful to leave space between them.
- Do you have a minute?
- Of course. - Her voice carried no tension. At least not yet. Nicholas hesitated, because suddenly every sentence he prepared sounded wrong. Too accusatory, intrusive and even too late.
- Is... Is everything okay with you? - Nyx blinked once, looking at him.
- What do you mean "okay with me"?
- I mean... - He scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck, thinking. - You know... Are you really, really okay right now? Like... I mean... - she watched him carefully over the rim of the glass. - You've been through a lot lately, and... - For a brief second, something shifted in her expression. Not fear. Something like... awareness. Like she immediately understood what he was actually asking. But then she smiled again.
- I'm okay, Nicholas. - she answered. Too smooth, too practiced. Not in robotic style. Worse. Protective.
As if she already knew how to guard this thing between her and Noah from outside judgment. Nicholas saw that and exhaled slowly.
- It's just... - He lowered his voice instinctively. - You and Noah have gotten really close lately. - At Noah's name, her fingers unconsciously drifted toward the onyx stone at her throat. Tiny movement, but very instinctive, and Nicholas noticed immediately that the chain already sat twisted slightly sideways โ like someone had been touching it recently.
Like someone touched it often.
- He's helping me. - Nyx replied softly. - That's all.
Nicholas glanced briefly toward the doorway, where Noah laughed quietly at something the other employee said. But his eyes?
His eyes were already on them watching.
Nicholas felt his stomach tighten.
- I know Noah, and... - he said carefully. - And when he cares about something, or someone... - He paused, searching for the least dangerous wording. - He can become intense. - Nyx smiled faintly
- You think so? That's one way to describe him. - The fondness in her voice unsettled him more than anything else could have. Because she sounded calm, like a person, who feel safe. Like Noah's obsession wasn't frightening her anymore. Almost like... Like she'd stepped inside it willingly. Nicholas lowered his voice further, still trying.
- I just need to ask you something honestly, okay? - She nodded once. - When he watches you like that... - Nicholas swallowed hard, looking for a second at Noah, then back at her. - Does it ever feel too much for you? - after that fell silence... The cafeteria suddenly sounded very far away. Nyx looked down at the water in her glass, fingers slowly rolling the black stone between them. Then, she answered quietly:
- Noah protects me. - simly, instinctively, honest. Like something rehearsed deep inside herself. Nicholas frowned slightly.
- Worrying about you is one thing, Iris. - Her eyes lifted back to his. - But this? This feels different. - For the first time, her expression flickered.
Not with fear, but becasue of conflict. Because somewhere deep down, Nyx knew exactly what Nicholas saw. She knew Noah watched every doorway she entered, knew he memorized her routines, her expressions, the cadence of her breathing when anxiety started creeping in, knew his body reacted before thought whenever someone touched her unexpectedly. She knew he hovered around her like something starved.
Some wounded part of her loved it.
Because Noah never made her feel like she was too emotional, too weak, too broken. His obsession wrapped around every shattered piece of her and treated it like something sacred. She felt safe inside his intensity. Safer than she'd ever felt in her life.
- I feel calm. - she admitted finally and Nicholas' chest tightened. After that, Nyx smiled softly then, smaller this time, quieter. - For the first time in a really long time, - she added. And there it was.
That terrifying sincerity.
From somewhere deeper in the cafeteria came the sound of low laughter and moving chairs. Noah finally pushed himself off the wall. Not abruptly, not suspiciously.
Just enough. But Nyx noticed instantly. Nicholas noticed that too. The shift in her body was almost imperceptible. A subtle step backward. Tiny. Controlled.
As if some unconscious part of her constantly recalibrated herself in relation to where he stood. Like her nervous system already considered him north.
- Nicholas. - she said gently, almost apologetically, - I know you're worried.
- I am.
- But you don't have to be. Everything is all right. - Her voice softened even more. - I'm not trapped. - The words hit him strangely hard, because they sounded less like reassurance and more like conviction she desperately needed to maintain. Before he could answer, Noah approached. The air changed with him.
Heavy.
Focused.
Protective in a way that felt almost territorial.
He stopped beside Nyx without touching her immediately, but his presence closed around her anyway. Nicholas suddenly understood how everyone else in the office felt whenever Noah stood near her.
Like reaching her required getting through him first.
- Everything okay, Nyx? - Noah asked casually, but his eyes were on Nicholas, like he was trying to read him.
Nyx answered before Nicholas could.
- We're fine. Right, Nicholas? - Noah's gaze softened instantly at the sound of her voice alone. God. That was almost worse. Then his hand settled lightly against the small of her back. Not forceful, not aggressive.
Certain enough that Nyx leaned into the touch without even thinking about it. Like her body already trusted his hands more than open space.
- We should go. - Noah murmured quietly to her. Not an order but not really a suggestion either. Nyx nodded immediately, and Nicholas caught it then - that subtle shift in Noah the second she agreed.
Relief.
Possession.
Something darkly satisfied.
As though every time she chose him willingly, it fed the monstrous part of him growing quietly beneath the surface. Before leaving, Nyx looked back at Nicholas one last time. Her gaze was calm, warm and certain. And somehow that certainty disturbed Nicholas most of all. Because she didn't look manipulated, she looked devoted. Like she'd found shelter inside Noah's darkness and decided she no longer wanted to leave it.
Noah guided her away with his hand still resting against her back.
Never pushing.
Never forcing.
Just keeping contact.
Like he needed to feel her there every second or risk unraveling completely. Nicholas watched them disappear down the hallway together and a single thought settled cold and heavy inside his chest:
Either Iris truly understood exactly what Noah was becoming for her...
Or she had already stopped seeing the danger in it altogether.
taglist: @itsfarbettertolearn @novainpolaroids @lacy1986
