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Vivian’s fingers paused as she held the glass, the words sinking into her, lingering in the silence between them. The calmness in Eva’s tone was almost too serene, too controlled. It made Vivian pause, and for the briefest moment, something flickered in her eyes—a mixture of realization and something harder to define.
“You don’t need to thank me,” Vivian finally said, her voice quieter, almost introspective. “I just wanted to make sure you knew where you stood.”
Eva didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she took a slow sip of the water, the cool liquid soothing her parched throat. Her mind raced, trying to make sense of Vivian’s words, trying to push past the unspoken tensions that seemed to thicken the air around them. The more she thought about it, the more complicated things became.
Vivian continued with a soft smile, but her eyes were unreadable. “You should rest now, Eva. I’ll stay here for a while.” She hesitated. “And don’t worry. You and Adrian are… fine. I know it must be difficult.” There was a slight emphasis on the word fine that Eva caught, but she chose not to comment.
Eva’s mind churned. Fine? What did Vivian really mean by that? Did she think things were fine between Adrian and her? Between all of them? She wasn’t sure. What did she really think of the situation?
“Thank you,” Eva said, her voice steady but with a hint of something that wasn’t entirely gratitude.
Vivian nodded, a soft smile curving her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She looked like she was holding something back, something more than just concern. It was almost as if she was watching Eva more closely than she let on, her every move calculated, carefully measured.
Eva, feeling the weight of the unspoken conversation, laid back against the pillow. Her head still felt like it was spinning, the fever making her thoughts slow and fuzzy. She closed her eyes, letting herself rest, but her thoughts were far from quiet.
She couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that Vivian was playing some sort of game—a game Eva wasn’t sure she was equipped to win. Adrian’s lingering presence, the tension between him and Vivian, and the confusing emotions she was struggling to understand—they all felt like pieces of a puzzle she wasn’t sure how to put together.
Minutes passed in silence, the quiet only broken by the soft rustle of Vivian moving around, checking on Eva, adjusting her blanket. Eva kept her eyes closed, but she wasn’t sleeping. She couldn’t. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Adrian’s face—his sharp eyes, his sudden movements, his hand on her collar, the way he pulled back so quickly when Vivian walked in. She couldn’t understand him—couldn’t figure out if he cared or if he was simply resigned to this charade of a marriage.
Vivian’s voice broke through her thoughts again, gentle and soft. “You should really rest, Eva. Let me take care of everything for now.”
Eva nodded without opening her eyes, but inside, she felt something shift. The lines between what was real and what was pretend were blurring.
She wasn’t sure where Adrian stood with her. She wasn’t sure where Vivian stood with him, either. All she knew was that she had to be careful—careful not to fall into a trap of her own making, especially when it came to Adrian. He had a way of making everything seem like it didn’t matter, when deep down, Eva knew it all did.
It all matters.
