Bryce followed through the entire process of the Thanksgiving ceremony. Everything felt strange, surreal, and extremely hard on him, but he didn't want to give Hera a tough time with her family or make them question his friendship with her, so he just had to go through it in silence, making sure to soak it up as much as he could.
Apart from going through the ceremony, it was also the very first time after his mother's death that he had decided to set his foot into a church. He had come to accept the fact that the more he hung around her, the more his walls were falling apart piece by piece.
Although Hera was of the opinion that he didn't have to join her for service, he still wanted to do it. She knew how hard it must've been for him to go through it, and she didn't want to subject him to any kind of pain for her sake, but still, he was adamant about the matter. Hera was there with him the whole time.
The priest had started off with a sermon on God and love, and the more he listened to it, the more absurd it sounded. How is it that he kept on emphasizing the goodness of a God that left him to die and took his mother away from him? How on earth was that even possible? The more he listened, the more it triggered him, but Hera offered her hand to him for support. She must've seen him fighting and struggling within himself, and it made her very worried.
Bryce kept on mouthing the occasional "I'll be fine." But for some reason, she didn't believe him. What was she even thinking when she invited him over to the convent? He was struggling and going through all this pain because of her.
Feeling suffocated and not being able to withstand it any longer, he excused himself and made his way outside the church in order to catch his breath. Hera followed almost immediately.
"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice dipped in worry. This was the second time she had seen him act like this. The first was the time he opened up to her about his past that night.
Placing her hands on his shoulders, she willed him to look at her. "Talk to me, Bryce. Are you okay?"