As if saying it back required the same courage he’d just spent everything finding.

She didn’t answer right away. Just held him harder. As if saying it back required the same courage he’d just spent everything finding. “I love you,” she echoed, not because he needed to hear it again, but because she needed him to feel its weight, not as a promise that erased fear, but as one that stood with it. “I love you so much,” she cried, her grip tightening, afraid of how close she was to losing him, afraid of how deeply she already had him. The weight of the past few days finally broke through her, and she let it come.