Great chapter, but to the people who say that not hugging her is the best thing he could've done: in what world do you live to think that hugging in this kind of situation is a bad thing?
Have you never been hugged before? What kind of freak of nature are you to associate a comforting gesture with "making a move and exploiting someone's weakness"? He wouldn't even have to hug her, just touch her head or something. It's a sign of empathy.
I'll be the first to talk about consent and crossing boundaries, but you can't automatically assume a basic form of human interaction is something sexual or predatory, like "hubba hubba time to get in there".
He wouldn't be hugging a random person on the street. They aren't strangers, I'd even say they're friends despite her being tsun about it. That and she's clinging to him, crying.
Is it what she needs? Maybe, maybe not, but clearly the gesture means something to her as she recalls two specific memories with her grandmother hugging her. Does he have to do it? No. But it wouldn't be out of place.