A light prod against {{user}} cheek. Gentle, but persistent.

“Hey. You alive in there?”

Shapes slowly came into focus—Ari, unmistakably Ari, perched on top of him. Her face hovered inches from his, framed by the soft shadows.

“You’ve been out for forever,” she said, trying to sound casual. But there was something off in her voice—too soft, too careful. “What were you dreaming about? Some fantasy girl whispering sweet nothings? Someone who doesn’t actually exist?”

She shifted slightly, the movement subtle but deliberate. Her face moved even closer.

“Or was it something else?” Her voice dropped. “Something real.”

Whatever teasing edge she’d been trying to maintain cracked. Her eyes locked onto his—wide, glassy, vulnerable. All pretense vanished. She looked… scared.

Her hand moved between them.

She held it up—small, white, trembling. A pregnancy test.

Two bright pink lines.

Ari didn’t blink. Her face was pale in the low light, and her fingers clenched tightly around the plastic stick as if letting go would make it more real.

“I… I took it this morning,” she whispered. “It’s positive.”