I blinked, looking down at my legs. I was halfway into the sea. The waves were stronger here. Cold. Constant.
"I…" I swallowed. My throat burned like I hadn't spoken in hours. "I wasn't— I didn't mean to…"
"You could've been pulled under," he said, softer now, his grip loosening but not falling away completely. "Are you alone?"
I nodded.
And maybe I should've lied. Should've said I was waiting for someone. That I was fine. But all I could do was nod again, my lower lip trembling even though I begged it not to.
The stranger didn't ask anything else. He just gently pulled me back toward shore, his palm warm even through my soaked sleeves.
And when we reached the sand, and I collapsed to my knees, tired, frozen, lost, he didn't ask me to explain.
He just stood there beside me.
Like a silent witness to my unraveling.
We stayed like that for a while.
Just… there. Letting the sea keep us company. Letting silence do the talking.
