The door creaked open, and there she stood—her figure silhouetted against the warm light of the late afternoon. Mom had returned, her hair tousled by the wind, her eyes brimming with something unspoken. For a moment, the room seemed to hold its breath.
Han sat at the edge of the couch, his hand still bandaged from last week’s fight, his eyes sunken with the weight of nights spent awake. He froze as her gaze swept over him. The faint scar on his cheek, the slight tremor in his fingers—evidence of the battles he’d faced alone.
Her lips parted, but no words came. She crossed the room in quick, purposeful strides and knelt before him. “Han…” she whispered, her voice cracking like the surface of thin ice. Her fingers hovered over his hands, unsure whether to touch or retreat.
“What happened?” she finally asked, though she must have already pieced together fragments of the truth. The look in her eyes wasn’t one of surprise but of a dawning, heavy realization.
Han looked away, his jaw tightening. “It’s nothing,” he muttered, though the tremble in his voice betrayed him.
Mom reached for his chin, gently turning his face toward her. “It’s not nothing,” she said firmly, her own eyes glistening. “I see it in you. The pain. The fear. Tell me, Han. How did it come to this?”
His breath hitched. For so long, he had carried the burden, convinced he had to shield her from his struggles, to prove he could handle it. But now, under her unwavering gaze, the dam broke. Words tumbled out—about the danger, the choices he had made, the things he had lost along the way.
Her arms wrapped around him before he could finish. “You shouldn’t have had to bear this alone,” she murmured, her voice trembling with equal parts guilt and resolve.
Han let himself lean into her embrace, the ache in his chest loosening for the first time in what felt like years. She was here now, and for all the pain he had endured, he realized he wasn’t alone anymore.
Mom pulled back, her expression fierce yet tender. “Listen to me, Han. Whatever’s happened, whatever danger still looms—we’ll face it together.”
