"Hurt you?" Liam asked softly, turning back toward her.
Sophia paused mid-step. She didn't turn around.
"How did I hurt you, Sophia?" he asked again, more gently this time, trying to read her shadowed figure in the falling dusk.
She stood there for a breath. Two. Then a third. He could almost see the thoughts warring in her mind, clashing like blades. But in the end, she just shook her head.
"Never mind," she murmured. "It's nothing."
Liam took a step forward. "Sophia—"
"Just leave it, Liam," she said, not harsh, but tired. Her voice was taut like a fraying rope barely holding together. "I'll be fine."
And then she walked away.
Liam didn't follow. He watched her go, watched the way her back stiffened slightly, how she wiped something from her cheek when she thought he wasn't looking. His heart pulled tight in his chest, but he said nothing. Not this time. He didn't even know what the right thing was anymore.
