The last bell of the day felt louder than usual — like the world itself was calling for something to break.
Velithra lingered in her seat until the classroom emptied. Her fingers tapped anxiously against the desk, her reflection faint in the glass of the window. The sky outside had turned gold, the kind of light that made everything look softer than it really was.
Kai waited just outside the door.
He didn't rush her. He didn't have to. There was something in his stillness — that quiet, calm certainty — that made her chest ache.
When she finally stepped out, he smiled faintly, almost cautious."You came."
"You asked," she said, trying not to sound nervous.
He chuckled under his breath. "Right. I did."
They walked together down the hallway, the sound of their footsteps echoing against the tile. The silence between them wasn't empty — it was heavy, almost alive.
They ended up behind the school again, where the afternoon light stretched long shadows across the pavement. Velithra sat down on the concrete steps, pulling her knees close. Kai stood for a moment before sitting beside her — not too close, but close enough that she could feel his warmth.
After a moment, he spoke."Do you ever feel like you're just… waiting for something bad to happen?"
Velithra glanced at him, startled by the honesty in his voice. "All the time," she admitted.
He nodded slowly. "Yeah. Me too."
She tilted her head. "Is that why you never smile?"
That caught him off guard. His lips twitched — not quite a smile, not quite a frown. "Maybe. Or maybe I'm just afraid of what happens when I do."
"What do you mean?"
He leaned back on his hands, eyes turned to the fading sky."Last time I let myself be happy, I lost everything. So I figured — maybe if I stop trying, nothing can hurt me again."
Velithra looked down at her hands, her heart heavy. "And has it worked?"
Kai gave a quiet laugh. "Not really. Because then you showed up."
Her breath caught. "Kai…"
He turned to her then — his dark eyes soft, unreadable. "You make me want to risk it again. And that terrifies me."
Velithra didn't know what to say. The words tangled in her throat, trapped between fear and longing.
She wanted to reach out, to touch his hand, to tell him she understood. But something held her back — the weight of the past, the uncertainty of what this was becoming.
Instead, she whispered, "Then maybe we can be scared together."
He looked at her for a long moment — searching, maybe believing. Then he nodded once, almost to himself."Scared together," he repeated.
The wind brushed past them, cool and slow.
And for a brief, fragile moment, it didn't matter who they had been before this — only that they were here, side by side, trying to unlearn their pain long enough to feel something real.
But as the shadows deepened, Kai's expression shifted — just slightly — to something distant, almost haunted.
Velithra noticed. "Kai? What's wrong?"
He blinked, as if pulled from somewhere far away. "It's nothing," he said too quickly.
But his eyes told a different story — one that whispered of something darker waiting just beneath the surface.