A brief silence followed, settling over the table like an unspoken agreement.
Then Alice spoke again, her voice gentler, almost reflective.
“If people learned how to express what they truly feel… wouldn’t everything be easier?”
Her smile didn’t fade as her gaze shifted—brief but unmistakable—between Maya and Damien, before finally settling on Ashcroft.
“Do you agree, Nicholas?” she asked lightly.
Nicholas swallowed hard.
He lifted a hand to the back of his neck, laughter slipping out a second too late. “Ah… yes. Of course. Of course, I do.”
A few smiles surfaced around the table.
Some amused.
Some a little too knowing.
Alice nodded once, seemingly satisfied.
Nicholas returned the gesture, then quietly moved to take his seat, relief written plainly across his features.
Only then
