The revelation

When Phina retreated to her room, it was almost past seven. Neither of the two friends returned from their outing. When the call with her father ended, she started reading.

Not too long after, she fell asleep.

Patrick came back to see Phina dozing off on the couch. She had been reading when she nodded off. He was quite sorry to have kept her waiting.

But he walked away from her, changing out of his clothes and taking a shower.

When he was finished, he moved to sit beside her on the little table in front of the couch, across from Phina's bed. He fixed his gaze on her face, and an uncontrollable smile appeared.

She looked so serene that he wasn't sure if he should wake her, so he just sat there staring at her. She fluttered her eyelids open as he was about to sweep the hair from her forehead. She gave him a startled glance before sitting up and scratching her left eye.

She said, "You are back."