Lydia didn't want to interrupt Higgs once he started talking. Merlin knew sometimes she had a hard enough time to get him to do that, she was going to get whatever she could out of him. So instead she remained silent, letting her thoughts build in her head as she slowly moved with the line into the cafeteria, so many unaware of the serious conversation going on at the moment. Just listening to him, her heart broke for him. Sure she didn't know much, but she could just see in his face and hear in his emotions that he still cared very much for Alicia. That probably made everything so much harder for him. Lydia couldn't imagine.
His answer should have surprised her much more than it actually ended up doing. Sure she hadn't known Higgs for very long, but from what she did know of him, this seemed very much like something he would do. He was like George in this sense, putting others first before himself. It was an admirable trait to be sure, but one that could lead to a lot of pain. "Okay," she said quietly in response. It took a moment for her to come up with more to say. She wasn't able to empathize in this situation so it took a bit for her to find the right words to say. "That's an awful situation to be in, Higgs. I'm really very sorry. I think it is very big of you to do this, to put her happiness, albeit long term, before yours. I can't imagine it feel great right now though."
One thing was bothering her while she started selecting her food. The timing of it all was just top weird and really she could only think of one thing that would have caused him to do this. "Is this partly coming from whatever happened or wherever you were those two weeks? You went off the grid and then come back and are asking for a divorce seemingly out of the blue to everyone. Did something happen?" she questioned.