Armaan called an uber and it arrived - helpfully - two minutes later. The driver was chatty, but didn’t seem to mind when Armaan’s replies were mumbled ‘mhms’ and ‘sures’. Armaan couldn’t have told you a single thing the driver had said if his life depended on it. He felt broken and empty, a kind of sorrow he’d never experienced leaching into his heart. Armaan had lost so many people already in his life, but never someone he was in love with. Never someone he had had to break up with because his own safety had been compromised without him ever knowing.
By the time he arrived home, he was ready to just crawl into bed. He hadn’t been home in days, nor had he eaten. He still walked right past his housemates’ questioning faces, and straight into his room. It was then he realised he was still wearing Freddie’s clothes, and the sob that bubbled up from his chest took him by surprise.
Crying, he peeled the clothes off and just crawled into his bed naked. Once there, he pulled the blankets over his head and he cried with his hand shoved into his mouth, trying to be as quiet as possible. He couldn’t answer any questions right now. He didn’t even have words.
In his mind, even though Patience had come back to life today, the Freddie he had known had died two days ago in his arms.