[Rose took her time, needing to both understand what just happened and to try and harden herself, as if bracing for more emotional blows about how this thing with them was wrong, how it couldn’t even be something because he just didn’t feel that way about her.
She sat on the edge of the tub as he left the room, running the towel through her hair, trying to remember that spark of happiness that she’d felt only a minute ago, wanting to cling to it, to etch it into her memory even now as she felt it slip between her fingers.
It was a few minutes before she emerged, the towel wrapped around her body, soaking up the water that still clung to her clothes. She didn’t bother changing. It just seemed to fit her mood to stay like this as she walked into the living room, pausing before she entered to look at him sitting there with his head in her hands.
It hurt her heart to see him like that, this cloud of despair choking him. She wanted to understand what was going on in his head but she didn’t even know if that was possible now. Every time she thought she knew him, trusted her instincts he insisted she was wrong, that things had changed, that he didn’t feel those things anymore.
Rose looked down at the fresh towel in her hand before making herself close the distance between them, silent as she sat herself on the edge of the coffee table facing him, trying to find the words that might help this situation.
None came to mind, none that she knew would shake him from whatever dark thoughts he was living in so instead she shook the fresh towel out and moved to towel dry his hair. Maybe she couldn't fix this, but she could at least do this.]