Almost Love, Then Everything - Chapter 22: Chapter 22

The café was quiet that late afternoon, golden sunlight casting long shadows across the wooden floor. Leah stirred her drink absentmindedly, her thoughts tangled in a hundred directions. Across from her, Jade sat with her fingers tracing the rim of her cup, as if searching for the right words.
They hadn’t spoken much since the night Leah stayed over. Everything felt different since then—but not in a bad way. Just heavier, more fragile.
Jade looked up. “I don’t want to lose this… whatever it is,” she said softly.
Leah’s gaze lifted, surprised by the rawness in her voice. “Me neither,” she whispered. “But I don’t know what ‘this’ is yet.”
There was a pause—neither uncomfortable nor cold. Just… silent. But the kind of silence where hearts are still speaking.
Jade reached across the table slowly, her fingers brushing Leah’s hand. “Then maybe we don’t need to define it today. Maybe we just… feel it?”
Leah looked down at their hands. Warmth spread through her chest. “I’m scared,” she admitted. “You make me feel so much, and I don’t know how to stop once I start.”
Jade gave her a gentle smile, her thumb now grazing Leah’s knuckles. “Then don’t stop. Just… let yourself fall. I’ll be here.”
The weight of those words settled into Leah’s heart like sunlight through a window. She didn’t reply. She didn’t have to.
Because in that moment, the silence said everything.