Sebastian's POV
The office was quiet again.
Rain was gone, thank God. But her words still echoed in my skull like some venomous mantra.
Until Ava walked in.
She didn't just light up the room. She hijacked it. Marched in with takeout, sarcasm, and that ridiculous oversized hoodie she always stole from my closet.
Now she was curled on my lap like a damn cat. Arms wrapped around my neck. Legs dangling over the side of the chair like she owned the world and I was just a seat in it.
She was warm. Soft. Her hair smelled like coconut and smoke—just faintly. Old sins clinging to her like ghosts.
"Seb, you're not listening," she huffed, poking my jaw with a chopstick. "I said the soup is way too spicy today. Like are they trying to kill you? And you haven't even touched the dumplings. Are you depressed?"
I blinked. "What?"
"Are you depressed?" she repeated seriously, like a doctor on her third espresso. "You're not eating. You're staring out the window. Your vibes are off. Blink twice if you need to be held."
I didn't even get the chance.
She squished my face between her hands and kissed both my cheeks in rapid-fire succession. "There. Healing kisses. Now eat before I cry."
I snorted despite myself. "You're insane."
"I'm your daughter," she said proudly, then paused. "But like... also your emotional support gremlin."
She twisted around to grab the food containers and started feeding me with plastic chopsticks like I was five.
I let her.
Her legs swung lazily over mine, bumping my desk every so often. She kept talking—about school, a girl who wore glitter boots and looked like a disco ball, about how Mr. Franklin needed to retire because he coughed like a haunted house, about how this boy looked at her and she almost decked him.
"Wait," I interrupted. "You almost decked someone?"
"Yeah," she said through a mouthful of noodles. "Because he said I looked like a snack and I said, 'Yeah, well my dad owns the whole damn restaurant.'"
I choked on my water. She cackled.
God, I missed this. The chaos. The noise. Her.
Rain could rot in whatever dark place she came from. Ava was here, wrapped around me like ivy. And no matter how twisted things got, this — this right here — was mine.
"You gonna stay on my lap the whole meeting?" I asked, knowing full well she would.
She grinned. "Do I look like I'm moving?"
"No."
"Good."
She leaned in, her face close, eyes gleaming like fireflies in the dark.
"I love you, Seb."
That word again. Seb. The one no one else dared use. The one that sounded like home only in her voice.
I brushed her hair back gently, kissed her forehead, and whispered back, "I love you more, trouble."