Willow shook her head. "No, no, that can't be the condition. Choose another one. Please?"
Evren shook his head slowly. "No. That's my only condition. Tell me why you need it."
Willow let out a frustrated sigh, running her fingers through her hair and looking around the library like she was searching for an escape. But she couldn't escape. Not without Nex-9.
She looked back at him, her fingers still gripping her hair. "Why do you want to know?"
Evren watched her carefully. His voice was calm, soft, and careful. He wanted her to calm down. "Because Cyro cells happen to be quite volatile if used wrongly, which means they can't be in the wrong hands."
Willow's eyes twitched. She pulled her fingers away from her hair and shook her head at him. "Is that why you were keeping an eye on Ezrik?"
Evren shrugged. "Aside from the fact that his family rules the Velmire faction, of course not."
Willow couldn't help but notice the way he said Velmire's faction so casually. Where was he from exactly?
"Come on, Willow, tell me why you need it." He dragged the words out, and Willow pressed her lips into a thin line.
"I can't. Please, you have to understand."
Evren sighed. "I broke rules by using my ability to save you, and you're hesitating to tell me what you want to use it for? That's not fair."
Willow sighed heavily. She hated that he was being so gentle… and he did save her life, after all.
This is it, Willow. You told yourself you were going to relate with more people in this life. Just tell him, she told herself.
"Okay." She avoided his eyes. "It may not make any sense to you. You might not even believe me, but this vial is the only chance I have at actually having an ability."
"It will give you an ability?" Evren's eyes widened. "I mean, yes, Cyro cells have that ability, they're used for Codex-Z but you're past the age."
Willow sighed, exasperated. "Exactly. That's why I said you won't believe me, but I can make it happen. I made the first—"
She stopped herself immediately, her eyes widening at the realization that she'd almost gone too far telling him something he wasn't supposed to know.
She took a deep breath to calm herself and looked him straight in the eye. "Look, it's a gamble. It's my gamble but you really need to give it to me, because this is the only chance I have to change my life."
"Oh…" Evren gave her a look of pity, and that immediately made her frown.
"Don't pity me."
The pity was immediately replaced by guilt, and he quickly said, "Oh. I'm so sorry."
Willow was surprised by how quickly he apologized, and he genuinely looked like he felt bad. She felt bad herself and said, "Okay, I don't mean to be rude, but you don't know what it's like to be a Dreg, so getting pity from those who have no idea what it's like is not exactly what I want."
Evren smiled faintly and nodded. "Sorry. It won't happen again."
Willow blinked, completely confused by Evren. He was just so different, and she hated that she couldn't read him.
She squinted at him. "I can't really tell if you're a good person or not. You're moving like a good person, but you shouldn't be a good person."
Evren laughed, finding her words completely unexpected. "I shouldn't be a good person?"
Willow nodded. "I mean, there is something in your eyes that makes me feel like you're not exactly a good person."
"Well…" Evren laughed again. "I don't exactly get that a lot, but I think I understand what you mean."
Then he removed the vial and pointed it at her. "Here."
Willow slowly snatched the vial from him and shoved it into her hoodie pocket. She looked at him, confused that he didn't even try to stop her again, and he just smiled at her and said, "You've already told me what you need it for, Willow, so it's all yours. You worked for it."
Willow returned his smile. She couldn't help it. She hadn't even done anything, and he was already praising her. 'You worked for it.'
"Thank you." She turned and began walking away.
"Oh, wait!" Evren called out, and she stopped, her whole body turning cold.
Is he about to do something? Maybe he wants the vial back. Oh no!
She slowly turned to face him, but he was already walking towards her.
"Are you going to ingest it?" he asked, and she raised her brows at him.
"Something like that," she replied slowly.
"I just want to know if you're going to go through the entire mutation with, uh… people around."
Willow was surprised. But she still couldn't read him, and even though he had returned the vial to her, she still didn't want to tag him as a good person.
"I don't know why you want to know that," she muttered hesitantly.
Evren scratched the back of his neck nervously. "I just feel like, since you're a Dreg, it won't be safe if you do it in your room. So if you want a place to do it, I am an Ascendant… and I, uh… I don't need to explain that, but I own my space, so if you feel like… you need a space, you can—"
"No thank you." Willow cut him off sharply and turned away, hurrying out of the library without looking back.
But when she started walking back to her dorm, she felt so stupid.
"He's right. I really do need space for the entire process." She groaned, rubbing her face. "Why did I reject his offer? That was a completely stupid move."
She returned to her dorm to find all her roommates asleep and dragged her feet to her own bed, pulling off her shoes and lying on it with a deep sigh as she looked up at the slightly cracked white ceiling.
"Calm down, Willow. As Hector always says, there's always another way." She whispered to herself, removed the vial from her pocket, brought it to her face, and stared at it with tears in her hazel eyes. "There's always another way."