บท 75: Rejection.

Recommended song - Wildflower - Billie Eilish.

Aiden's body stiffened and froze when Bale grabbed him. His heart thumped in his chest, and the tears he had fought earlier threatened to flow once more. Nothing could have prepared him for this moment, even if he was expecting it.

Even if he practiced in that room before the Vlad, the moment Bale's warmth engulfed him, he was about to crack. He felt his exhaustion, his desperation, his pain as the urge to hold him back threatened just beneath his skin but he held back. He couldn't let that happen.

Not there.

Not at that moment.