"I'm really sorry for causing so much trouble for you tonight, especially stopping you from getting rest. I saw that you'd already turned the lights off earlier." Pearl pointed in the direction of his room.

Darius smiled and shook his head. "You don't need to worry about these things. In any case, I wasn't asleep yet. If I were, I wouldn't have come downstairs because I heard you crying."

Pearl looked surprised, unsure how to respond to this. She knew Darius was trying to alleviate her guilt over disrupting his rest, but she didn't necessarily want to hear him say these things. She fidgeted, wondering how to react.

Darius sighed and patted her on the shoulder. "Come on, let's go upstairs. Honestly, you don't need to overthink these things. We're friends, so I'll always be around to help you when you're sad or upset, as long as you need it." He looked at her seriously.

Pearl met his gaze. In the past, she'd never been able to understand what people meant when they said someone had brig