Only in that fragile moment, with barely a few centimeters separating them, did Yogev truly grasp the crushing weight pressing down on Heigl's shoulders.
Looking deep into his friend's eyes, Yogev was utterly devastated by the sheer intensity of the agony unraveling before him.
He had never imagined Heigl capable of laying bare his raw, festering grief regarding his father. Panic seized Yogev. He stood paralyzed, stripped of words or instincts, completely ill equipped to comfort a man drowned in such profound torment.
Heigl was not begging for empty words of consolation. He was not seeking reassurance that he had done the right thing.
Finally, the puzzle pieces clicked into place for Yogev. He realized how foolish he had been to assume Heigl was simply terrified by the sudden reappearance of Isiah Duncan, a man presumed dead for months.
A figure like Isiah could never rattle Heigl so thoroughly unless Heigl was already shattered from within by a far more harrowing realization.
