Chapter 211 ~Finding My Way Back~

Chapter 211 ~Finding My Way Back~
Aria's POV

With Camille finally out of the pack and most of the immediate pressure easing off my shoulders, I found myself with more free time than I knew what to do with. I had spent a long time staring at my ceiling and although there was nothing particularly wrong with being in my room, I had started to hate how quiet it became whenever I was alone.
Without work to occupy my hands or people around to distract me, my thoughts had began wandering to unproductive things that left me paranoid. So I decided it was time to do something useful with myself again.
I had been thinking about returning to the infirmary for a while, but between everything happening with Camille, and everything unresolved with Darius, there had never been a good moment to actually follow through on it. Thankfully, that excuse no longer applied. The search for Camille was ongoing, but it no longer demanded my presence at every turn, and I had run out of reasons to keep putting this off.
A few ugly thoughts tried to surface at that but I pushed them down firmly before they could take root properly.
I made my way across the pack house grounds and pushed through the infirmary doors, the familiar smell of antiseptic greeting me the moment I stepped inside. Dominic and Hannah were both near the front desk, deep in conversation over something on a clipboard, and they both looked up when they heard the door.
"Aria." Hannah's face broke into a warm smile immediately, setting the clipboard aside. "It's good to see you up and about. How are you feeling?"
"Much better," I said, returning her smile easily. "Healthier than I've felt in a while, actually."
Dominic gave me a once over and seemed satisfied with what he saw. "You do look better," he said. "What brings you by?"
I got straight to the point, hoping for the best. "I'd like to start helping around here again," I said. "If that's still something you'd want."
Hannah's face lit up instantly, practically vibrating with excitement. "Oh, that would be wonderful. We could use the extra hands, honestly, and it would be so nice having you around properly again."
Dominic's expression shifted and a pleased grin slowly spread across his face. "I thought you'd never come around," he said.
Something warm bloomed in my chest at that, a small, steady kind of relief I hadn't expected to feel this strongly over something so simple. "Do I still need to show my credentials," I asked, keeping my tone light, "or does prior experience count for something around here?"
Dominic rolled his eyes at me, though the grin never fully left his face. "Prior experience counts for plenty. Come back tomorrow morning and we'll get you settled back into the rotation."
I nodded, genuinely pleased with how easily that had gone, and thanked them both before turning to head back out the way I'd come. I was still smiling faintly to myself when I turned and nearly collided directly into someone standing just behind me.
I stumbled back a step, catching my balance quickly, and looked up to find Darius standing there. He looked down at me with an expression I couldn't quite place, something caught between surprise and restraint, and I noticed the way his breath seemed to catch for half a second before he let it out slowly.
I hadn't seen him since that night in his office, since the liquor and his hand cupping my face and being carried through the hallway half asleep against his chest. The memory returned with embarrassing clarity and heat immediately rushed straight up into my cheeks. I hated how quickly my body betrayed me every single time he was standing close.
"Hello, Aria," he said quietly, his voice soft.
My fingers tightened slightly at my sides as I looked away. I didn't know what to say to him, didn't know how to act now that we were standing this close together with nothing but silence stretching awkwardly between us. So I cleared my throat, murmured a quiet "excuse me," and stepped around him instead, heading straight for the door without looking back to see his reaction.
I felt his eyes on my back the entire way out, though he didn't call after me or try to stop me. And for some reason that bothered me more than I wanted to admit, even though he was just respecting my space, even though I'd been the one to ignore him.
I didn't know what to make of that. Maybe I was expecting him to keep fighting for my forgiveness because that was easier for me to understand. Maybe I was waiting for him to make another mistake so I could convince myself that keeping my distance was the only sensible thing to do. But he hadn't.
This was absurd.
Avoidance wasn't exactly the healthiest way to handle things between us, and some part of me knew that clearly enough. But I still hadn't sorted out what I actually felt underneath all the anger and grief and cautious warmth that kept tangling together whenever he was near so until I had, Darius would have to wait.
I made my way back towards my room, feeling a strange mix of lightness and unease.