Kapitel 106: Real Man.

[Music Recommendation: CHIHIRO by Billie Eilish.

"Hey..." Avery's greeting came out in a slur, and that, apart from her red face, was all Archie needed to confirm she was drunk. Very drunk, at that. This was so, very unlike her.

"You are back," her second attempt at speaking was what attracted Archie to the underlying tone of sadness in her voice.

Quickening his steps to close the distance between them, his facial expression morphed from one of relief and adoration to that of annoyance, flickers of fury dominating his eyes. Now that he was near, he could see that not only was her face red...her eyes were too, and swollen.

"Who hurt you?" he whispered, his hand slowly leaving his side to wrap around the wrist of her hand holding the wine bottle. As he expected, she let it go immediately, giving him the chance to check the alcohol by volume content of the drink, his eyes darkening at what he saw.