Chapter 62. Bedside Confessions

Nights had become their quiet ritual. It wasn’t planned, but it just started one night when Jared couldn’t sleep.

Hayden woke to the sound of someone pacing softly near the window late into the night. “Jay?” he called out, voice still hoarse from the exhaustion of the day's therapy.

Jared stopped, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Hayden smiled faintly. “You've never slept much anyway.”

A quiet chuckle escaped Jared. “Yeah. It’s an old habit.” He hesitated, then sank into the chair beside the bed. His elbows rested on his knees, eyes fixed on the floor. “You ever feel like you’re being punished?”

Hayden blinked, thrown off. “For what?"

“For making it through when others didn’t.” Jared’s voice was soft but strained, the words dragging like something he’d held inside too long. “The orphanage, the war... I thought I left the war behind, but I didn’t. Some nights I still hear the gunfire, the screams. Every loss, e