Sebastian's POV
It was late.The campus lights flickered dim gold along the pathway behind the library—just enough to cast long shadows and give you the illusion of quiet.
I wasn't even supposed to be out here.
But I couldn't sleep.Not after seeing her again. Not after the way she looked me in the eye and said she wasn't scared of me anymore.Not after that damn necklace gleamed against her skin like I had any right to be that close to her again.
I didn't expect to see her.
But there she was—walking just a few steps ahead of me on the garden path, her phone pressed to her ear, and…
Laughing.
Laughing.
Not the forced polite kind.Not the soft awkward ones she gave professors when they praised her too much.Not the breathy, tense sounds she made when she was uncomfortable and didn't want anyone to notice.No—this one was real.
Like it cracked something wide open inside her.Like it was pulled from the version of her I ruined.
Her head was tilted back slightly, and her lips parted in a smile I hadn't seen in over a year.God, she looked—
No.
I didn't deserve to think that.Not after everything.
"Gege, you always say that," she said into the phone, her voice laced with warmth. "You're so dramatic. I am eating."
I slowed my steps. My chest tightened.
"Yup. Still top of my class," she teased gently. "I think I made someone cry in dissection today. My professor called me a 'silent killer.'"
She laughed again.
That sound.I swear, it was brighter than the damn moonlight.
"Miss you too," she whispered, a little softer now. "Tell mama I'm okay, okay?"
She paused. Her voice went quieter. More fragile.
"Don't worry about me… You're the only one who still does."
And that broke me.
She hung up. Slipped the phone into her coat pocket. The smile faded slowly, like she was storing it away—hiding it again behind those too-tired eyes and quiet steps.
She didn't see me.
Didn't hear the way my breath hitched.
Didn't know that I'd just witnessed the most human part of her—and it didn't include me.
It never did.
It never would.
The only one who still loves her.
And it wasn't me.
Not yet.