Leon waited outside the club, the night air brushing through his hair while neon lights flickered across the cracked pavement. He stood with his arms crossed, his posture steady but his jaw tight, the faintest sign of impatience slipping through his calm. The city noise thinned around him, replaced by the muffled bass from inside. He checked the time on his phone and exhaled, the breath clouding faintly in the cool air. “You said midnight, it’s almost two,” he murmured, the words half a reminder, half a release of tension. He shifted his stance, rubbing at his neck as if to chase away the stiffness creeping in. “Knew I shouldn’t have let her go alone.”

When Rafaella finally emerged, the crowd spilling around her in fragments of laughter and perfume, Leon moved instinctively. His hand found her elbow before she could even greet him, his touch firm but careful, a steadying point in the blur of lights and noise. She wasn’t drunk, not exactly, just off-balance enough for him to notice. Without comment, he guided her toward the car parked nearby, his focus fixed forward. The ride back unfolded in quiet rhythm, headlights tracing the road while the hum of the engine filled the silence. He glanced at her from time to time, subtle checks more than concern, making sure she stayed awake, that she was still there behind the distant look in her eyes.

At her building, Leon helped her up the narrow stairwell, the smell of old wood and dust familiar from too many nights like this. Her keys were already in his hand; she had passed them over without a word, trusting him with the small details she no longer had the energy to manage. Inside, he guided her toward the couch and eased her down, the motion practiced but gentle. “You shouldn’t let them talk you into staying that late,” he said, crouching in front of her, voice quieter now, the kind that left no room for argument. “You never know who’s watching out there.” The room settled into a soft stillness after that, the kind that hangs between two people who know too much to pretend otherwise. Leon sat at the edge of the table, his eyes fixed on her, the rest of his thoughts still unsaid, waiting somewhere just behind the quiet.