Claire turned slowly, retracing her steps back toward the station. The crowd bustled around her—strangers in a hurry to get somewhere—but she no longer felt lost among them.
Her mind spun with questions, yet her heart felt strangely calm. How could Mark sense what was happening to her when he wasn’t even there? Was it luck? Intuition? Or was it something greater—something that words could never quite explain?
Perhaps it was nothing mystical at all. Perhaps it was simply love—the kind that binds two souls together so tightly that distance, silence, and even fear cannot sever it.
A Presence That Protects
When she reached the station again, the bustling noise of announcements and footsteps felt strangely comforting. The unease that had wrapped itself around her chest began to loosen.
Mark’s voice echoed in her mind: You’re okay now.
It wasn’t just reassurance. It was a promise.
She realized then that protection doesn’t always come in the form of someone physically standing at your side. Sometimes, it comes from the quiet certainty that someone out there loves you so fiercely that they feel your fear as if it were their own.
Mark had been miles away, yet he had still been with her. Watching over her in a way no one else could.
