As soon as the words left her mouth, she started sobbing uncontrollably.

"She-she was here. I saw her," she said between gasps. "I saw her and then she left. I-I lost my mommy again."

I pulled her into my chest, rubbing her back soothingly. That's when I realized she was shaking. Badly.

"She was here," Evelyn repeated. "I r-ran after her and... and then she disappeared. I called her. Again and again but she didn't stop. She never stopped."

Another stream of sobs shook her body and I held her tighter. Some of the people around us gave us concerned looks but I ignored them, putting my sole focus on Evelyn. Her breathing was starting to get ragged and I was worried she'd pass out.

"Maybe if I had run faster... caught up with her, she would have taken me back. She would have taken me with her," she cried, gasping for air.

I cupped her face, making her look at me. A lump formed in my throat at the sight of her tear-stained cheeks and puffy, red eyes. She looked so devastated.

"Evelyn, baby you need to breathe okay?" I said, wiping her tears. "Shall we breathe together? Will that help?"

She nodded and I took a deep breath, exaggerating the movement. Inhaling a breath, I exhaled loudly through my mouth. Evelyn mimicked my movements. I kept rubbing her back and arms alternatively, hoping to ground her.

Slowly her breathing returned to normal and she placed her head on my chest, clinging to me. Two women from a nearby store walked towards us and stood a few steps behind. "Is everything okay here?" one of them asked.

Evelyn flinched at her voice and buried her face further in my chest as if hiding. She clutched the front of my t-shirt in tight fists and I wrapped an arm around her back, holding her close. "Yeah. We are okay. Just need a few minutes," I replied, giving her a small smile.

The woman eyed Evelyn with concern but nodded and walked away. Once they were gone, I leaned down and pressed a kiss to the crown of her hair. "Do you want to sit somewhere? Or do you want to leave?" I asked.

"Leave," she whispered.

"Okay. Let's leave." Letting go of her, I took a step back to adjust the bags in my hands. Evelyn's eyes widened in fear and she grabbed my arm, holding it in a vice grip.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm not leaving. I'm here. Just have to adjust the bags," I said and showed her the bags in my other hand.

Evelyn immediately let go of me and looked down at her shoes. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay. Don't apologize," I said and threw my arm around her shoulder, pulling her close. She immediately curled into my side, snuggling closer. "Let's go."

On our way to the parking lot, we got quite a few stares. Whether it was because they had seen Evelyn's meltdown or because she was clinging a little too close to me, I did not know. But it made Evelyn nervous.

She kept fiddling with her fingers and staring at her shoes, letting her hair fall in front of her face to block the people out. It broke my heart to see her like this.

The parking lot was thankfully empty, a reprieve from the stares of people. I made Evelyn stand to the side and kept the bags by her feet. "Will you wait here while I go get the car around?"

She shook her head, latching onto my arm again. When she met my gaze, her eyes were glassy, pleading. "Don't leave."

I clasped her hand in mine. It was worryingly cold. "Okay. Okay, let's walk together, alright? Can you hand me those bags?"

She nodded again and picked up the bags off the floor, handing most of them to me while keeping one to herself. I regretted parking the car at the far end as we started walking in the dimly lit parking lot. Evelyn again huddled closer to me, her eyes flitting around nervously.

"We are here," I said when we reached my car. Unlocking it, I let Evelyn get in first and then put our bags in the trunk before getting in myself. She grabbed my hand as soon as I got inside and held it in between both of mine, hoping to warm it up. "Are you feeling okay now? Should we go to a doctor?"

Shaking her head, she whispered in a tiny voice. "I'm okay."

I didn't believe it. She was still shaking even if it wasn't as bad as before and she was still a little disoriented. She wouldn't meet my gaze head-on for more than two seconds. But I also didn't want to push her to do anything she didn't want to.

The idea of dropping her home also didn't sit well with me. Knowing Evelyn, she would insist on going back home and once she started feeling a bit better she would ask me to leave. However, leaving her alone to cry or have yet another meltdown wasn't something I was willing to do.

I looked at her for a beat before nodding. "Why don't you take a nap? I'll wake you up once we reach."

"Nap?" she repeated.

"Yeah. You must be tired. Get some sleep. You'll feel much better," I said, hoping she would agree.

Evelyn stared at me for what seemed like an eternity before nodding slowly. "Okay."

Smiling, I reclined her car seat so she could rest comfortably. Evelyn's tired gaze honed on me as I strapped her seatbelt and backed out of the parking spot. "Go to sleep," I told her and she nodded.

She took hold of my hand again with both of hers and placed it in her lap as she finally let her eyes droop. She was out cold immediately and I heaved a relieved sigh.

Instead of taking the route to her apartment, I started driving toward downtown. Evelyn hadn't had food since I didn't know when. Taking her to my favorite restaurant only seemed reasonable. And maybe as we ate, I could convince her to stay the night with me at the penthouse. That way I could keep an eye on her and make sure she was well.

I peeked a glance at her from the corner of my eye and a sudden feeling of protectiveness towards her engulfed me. She looked so serene and peaceful at that moment. No traces of the anguish and devastation I'd witnessed earlier. I wasn't religious but if there was a God and if I ever prayed, I would pray for her to always be happy and not face any kind of sadness ever.

Evelyn twisted and turned a few times, mumbling something in her sleep that I couldn't catch. I kept rubbing circles on her hand and hoped that she would somehow know that I was right beside her. That she wasn't alone.

When a familiar high rise came into view, I slowed down and turned left to access the underground parking lot. Once the car was parked, I unstrapped my seatbelt and turned to face Evelyn. "Rosy, wake up," I said, gently shaking her. "We are here."

After my third attempt to wake her up, Evelyn stirred from sleep with a frustrated groan. She turned in her seat from side to side for a few minutes before finally opening her eyes. "Good morning. Did you have a good nap?" I asked.

She blinked at me as if getting her bearings back and then sat up straight. She yawned while looking around. "Where are we?"

Grinning, I unstrapped her seatbelt. "Someplace special. Let's go." Evelyn didn't seem impressed because even as I hopped out of the car, she remained seated, staring at me like I'd gone crazy. "C'mon. You'll love it. I promise."

"Fine." She stepped out of the car and I took her hand in mine, pulling her towards the elevator. Evelyn raised a brow at me when I pressed the button for the top floor. "Are you sure you didn't bring me to another one of your penthouses?"

I rejoiced on the inside at the first glimpses of my Rosy. This was more like her. The fearful and complacent her from before had scared the shit out of me. I would much rather have her snapping and yelling at me than go all quiet.

"I only have access to one penthouse. My sister lives in the other," I replied. "And this is my favorite place in the entire town."

Before she could ask any further questions, the elevator opened in the lobby of the restaurant I visited ever so often. The receptionist, Gary, who knew me by my name by now, gave us a bright smile.

"Mr. Griffin! It's been a while. Should I book your usual table for you?" Gary asked.

"No. I have something else in mind," I said and walked over to him while Evelyn was busy looking around. Leaning against his desk, I lowered my voice to a whisper. "Is the terrace open?"

"Yes," he replied. "The staff is setting up tables right now."

"Perfect! Can you give me a table for two there? Preferably the corner one."

"Of course! This way, please." He walked around his desk, gesturing us to follow him.

"C'mon." I led Evelyn through the open double doors, following Gary inside. We passed the main dining area where a few people were already enjoying their meals and then crossed another small area before entering the terrace.

I heard Evelyn gasp beside me and a slow, proud smile spread across my lips. One of our clients had introduced this place to me and I'd been a regular since then.

The restaurant was situated at the top of one of the tallest highrises in town, looking over all of downtown and the neighboring area. If you brought binoculars with you, you could also see the clock tower of Wellsfield's library.

Of course, it wasn't like the skyscrapers in big cities like New York but it still had one of the best views I had ever seen. Wide and unobstructed. Just endless buildings, green patches of parks, and then the mountains at the edges of the town.

"A table for two," Gary said, gesturing to the table with two settees placed in an L shape against the protective barricade in the corner of the terrace. "The menus are right here and one of our servers will be coming to take your order in a few minutes. Hope you enjoy your meal."

Saying so, Gary walked away, leaving us alone. Evelyn was still looking around in awe, her hair flying in the light breeze and giving her an ethereal look. I wanted to imprint the image on my brain for eternity.

But as much as I would love to sit here and watch the way her expressions changed every time she spotted something new, she needed to eat. I squeezed her hand to gain her attention. "You like it?"

She gave me one of her brightest smiles. "It's amazing! I didn't even know there was a restaurant here."

I steered her to sit down on one of the settees with a smile of my own. "I didn't know about it either. I had a meeting with one of our clients here once. That's when I got to know about it."

She nodded, still looking around. I held up a menu card for her. "How about we order first and then you can stare at the view all you want."

As soon as she opened the menu, her eyes widened and she started complaining about the high prices but I assured her that it was my treat. Evelyn being Evelyn fought tooth and nail about it with me and I secretly enjoyed that. Seeing that she was going back to her usual self was more relieving than I could put into words.

In the end, I won and ordered for both of us because Evelyn refused to order anything that cost a little higher than what she'd expected. Once I placed the order, she went back to looking at the cityscape.

We sat in silence for a while, both enjoying the view and the quiet. It was a clear sky with fluffy white clouds floating around. Even the sun wasn't that harsh. Perfect weather for an outing.

Evelyn took a deep breath and exhaled with a sigh. "It's so peaceful. I could sit here for the whole day."

I hummed, agreeing. "It's one of the reasons why I visit here so often. Whenever I have a bad day, I come here to sit with my thoughts."

Her shoulders stiffened suddenly and she turned to face me but didn't meet my gaze. "About today..." she started. "I'm really sorry. I don't know what happened. I just—"

I covered her hand with mine, stopping her. "No need to apologize. It's okay."

"Still..." she heaved a sigh and rubbed her eyes. "I thought I was over it. That I didn't need her or anyone. But... but when I saw her or someone like her... I don't even know what I saw," she said, shaking her head.

"Don't think too much about it. After what you have been through, it's understandable."

She chuckled in that self-deprecating way. "That doesn't make it any less embarrassing."

We lapsed into silence again as our server came back with our food. I ordered their signature tomato pasta and garlic bread set for us. Hopefully, Evelyn would like that too.

"You know I would randomly cry for at least a year after my parents' death. Be it at home or school, suddenly I would be engulfed by grief and I would start crying," I said, pushing around the roasted cherry tomatoes on my plate. "Kids in my school started to bully me for that."

"That must have been awful," she whispered.

I shook my head. "I beat them up for it. While crying."

An abrupt snort left her mouth at that. "Of course you did. Not that they didn't deserve it."

"My point is..." I said, looking up at her. "Shit happens and more often than not, we have to deal with its repercussions for a long time. Sometimes our whole life. And we shouldn't blame ourselves or be ashamed for reacting like normal human beings."

Evelyn's eyes softened and the expression of awe returned to her face as she nodded. We ate in silence for a beat before she spoke again. "Seems like something a therapist would have said. Are you secretly taking psychology classes?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "My therapist had told me that. I still have it noted down on sticky notes around my house and my notes app for whenever I need a reminder."

We finished our food, talking about everything and nothing. Evelyn appeared to be in a much better mood by the time we were done. Calmer and happier.

"I wish we could sit here some more," she said with a sigh when our server brought us the check.

"We can," I said. "Gary won't be kicking us out but if we are waiting I'll order some takeout for the guys. They had gone crazy over the pasta last time I brought some home."

"Let's wait then. Please," Evelyn said and we sat there while my takeout order was being made.

Somewhere between watching the sun slowly descend towards the horizon and talking about the unserious stuff in life, we ended up sitting on the same settee. Way closer to one another than we had when he arrived at the restaurant.

Our eyes locked as I was showing Evelyn the direction in which our university would be and we both smiled at each other. "Thank you so much for today. For everything," Evelyn whispered in the space between us.

"You're most welcome," I replied.

Her gaze dropped to my lips before lifting to meet mine again. Simultaneously we leaned in and our mouths collided in the softest kiss I had ever experienced. It was beautiful and surreal and my heart was beating so fast I was afraid it would explode.

Evelyn fisted the front of my t-shirt and pulled me closer. I cupped the back of her head, threading my fingers in her hair as I deepened the kiss. Always wanting more of her.

Suddenly there was the sound of a camera shutter followed by a familiar sounding chuckle.

"Would you look at that? Caught red-handed," someone said and we pulled apart abruptly, our heads turning towards the voice at the same time.

It was Dylan.

Fuck.