That night, they went to their separate rooms. Tossing and turning on the soft mattress, Sienna found herself experiencing her first bout of insomnia all week.
She gave up and rolled onto her right side.
Staring at the empty expanse of the large bed, she felt like someone had chiseled a hole straight through her chest, and freezing wind was howling right into it.
Separation was always inevitable.
From the very beginning, they were never meant to exist in the same world.
Sienna comforted herself with these thoughts, then rolled back onto her left side.
A dim sliver of light peeked through the crack beneath the door. It seemed the door to the guest bedroom was left ajar.
She stared at that light for a long, long time.
She stared until her eyes burned, but she still didn't feel a shred of sleepiness.
Sienna suddenly remembered a design sketch she had casually drawn while she was still at Syllable Studio. Because she hadn't touched it in so long, it was tucked into a folder, which Jorrod had subsequently placed on the top shelf of the bookcase next to her bed.
Since she had nothing else to do—and she had no intention of staying in her current administrative role forever—she figured she might as well brush up on her actual profession.
But it was so late, she didn't want to bother Jorrod.
She simply hobbled out of bed, stepped onto a stool, and reached for the square plastic folder sitting on top of a heavy dictionary on the highest shelf.
Maybe it was because she hadn't been on her feet in a while, but Sienna severely overestimated her balance.
The stool wobbled, her body pitched forward, and she let out a cry of alarm.
Sienna instinctively tried to grab onto something nearby, but her body was already falling. She held on for barely two seconds before her grip slipped.
Falling even faster than the heavy objects was the man who rushed into the room in an utter panic. She couldn't see clearly, only hearing him desperately shouting her name.
A dull thud echoed through the room.
Sienna squeezed her eyes shut, hissing as a sharp pain shot through her tailbone.
But the very next second, she was swept into a broad, warm embrace.
The heavy files had crashed down. She opened her eyes, immediately spotting the man's shoulder where the binder had struck him.
In the chaos, his clothes were disheveled, the collar pulled wide. Just below his pale collarbone, a fresh, angry red mark was rapidly blooming.
But he didn't utter a word of complaint.
His dark, anxious eyes were entirely focused on her.
He was frantic.

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