Wince (Noun): To shrink back involuntarily (as from pain)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wince

In the article “City Limit” By Colson Whitehead it states “It saw you wince,when the single frigid drop fell from the air-conditioner twelve stories up and zapped you”. This word is located on the  page 3, third paragraph.

When I came upon this word I had no idea what it meant. So I ended up moving on to the next sentence. When I looked it up I read the definition and I understood it a little more better. The way I understood what wince meant was by this picture. With the definition and the picture I realized it was an expression people made when there in pain. So in the picture for example the lady who is getting the shot is making this wince face because she is either afraid of needles and trying not to think about it.Or she is making that face because it actually hurts her. So putting it back to the article “City Limit” when I put my understanding to the sentence and I pretty sure the author was talking about the buildings and how it makes this face. The reason why the author referred to the word wince to describe the building was because as it’s being knocked down it feels that pain. Knowing a building can’t feel pain the author was also referring himself.

For example: This lady is wince because she know that the needle hurts her.