Chapter 148: The Second Knife

Elara:

One might think getting one reality check in a single day should be enough to ruin someone’s day, but apparently whoever was in charge of my destiny had decided that I hadn’t suffered nearly enough yet.

After leaving Esmeray’s dorm, I walked through the corridor with my mind in complete disarray, still trying to process the conversation I’d overheard.

I wanted nothing more than to disappear into my room, lock the door, crawl beneath my blankets, and pretend the last twenty minutes hadn’t happened. Instead, my path took me through the corridor beside the garden belonging to the third-year dormitory building, and I suddenly stopped mid-step.

At first, I only noticed Aria. She was standing beneath one of the glowing garden lamps, and my immediate instinct was to keep walking. But then I saw the man standing with her, and my breath caught so violently that it hurt.

It wasn’t Aria who froze me in place. It was Kairo... and he was kissing her.

For several seconds, my mind simply refused to process what my eyes were seeing. Aria’s hands were around his shoulders, her body pressed against his, and Kairo’s arms were wrapped around her as though holding her there was the most natural thing in the world. Their mouths were still together, completely unhurried, completely comfortable.

I stood there staring like an idiot, unable to move, while something cold spread through my chest. It had been a little over a week since that night in the library. A little over a week since I had finally stopped running from the attraction between us, since I had allowed myself to believe that perhaps what existed between Kairo and me could become something more than a single impulsive night.

But then he had disappeared afterward, and I had spent days trying to convince myself that he was simply busy. Then I had wondered whether he regretted what happened. I had even questioned whether I wanted more from him. But nothing... absolutely nothing... had prepared me for seeing another girl’s mouth against his.

I should have turned around. I should have walked away before either of them noticed me. I should have protected whatever dignity I had left by pretending I had never seen them. But my feet wouldn’t move.

I couldn’t make myself look away from Kairo, and perhaps that was my first mistake, because Aria eventually opened her eyes and saw me standing there. Her expression changed almost instantly. Surprise flickered across her face before something far more familiar replaced it - a slow, delighted smile.

Of course she wouldn’t let an opportunity like this pass. Not after everything that had happened between us, especially after the illusion practical where I had embarrassed her without even intending to.

Aria had been waiting for another chance to get at me, and apparently fate had just handed her the perfect weapon.

She slowly pulled away from Kairo, but instead of looking embarrassed about being caught, she turned toward me with an expression that made my stomach twist. "Well," she said sweetly, glancing between me and Kairo, "this is unexpected."

I finally forced myself to breathe. "Apparently," I replied, hoping my voice sounded steadier than I felt.

Aria laughed softly and leaned back against Kairo, deliberately making sure there was no mistaking how close they were. "I didn’t realize we had an audience."

I wanted to tell her that I didn’t care. I wanted to turn around and leave. But before I could, I looked at Kairo. And that was when something inside me shattered.

He wasn’t shocked to see me. He didn’t look guilty. He didn’t look uncomfortable. There was no trace of the Kairo who had once watched me with tenderness in the library, no sign of the man who had admitted he’d spent weeks waiting for me to return to that corner. Instead, he simply looked at me with an expression of complete indifference.

His arm tightened around Aria’s waist, pulling her closer, and he glanced at me as though I was nothing more than an inconvenience that had interrupted his evening.

I couldn’t understand it. This was the same man who had held me as though I was something precious. The same man who had confessed how long he’d waited for me. The same man whose eyes had made me believe, even for one reckless night, that perhaps I mattered.

Now he looked as though he couldn’t spare me a second glance.

Aria noticed it too, and her smile widened. "Don’t look so surprised, Princess," she said, her voice dripping with satisfaction. "Not everything revolves around you."

I felt my fingernails press into my palms. I could handle her. I had handled worse than Aria. But Kairo standing there beside her, willingly participating in this humiliation, was something else entirely.

When my eyes met his again, he didn’t defend me. He didn’t tell Aria to stop. Instead, he said something quietly enough that only the three of us could hear, a remark that was deliberately vague to anyone else but painfully clear to me.

"Maybe she loves to think the world revolves around her. But some questionable decisions are worth only making once. There’s no need to repeat such mistakes."

The meaning hit me immediately.

He was reducing it to nothing. A single night. A mistake. Something disposable.

My face burned. I could have forgiven him for deciding he didn’t want anything more. I could have accepted that perhaps he’d never felt the same way I had. I could even have swallowed the humiliation of discovering he’d moved on so quickly. But using that night against me - using something I had trusted him with as a weapon - was cruel in a way I had never imagined he was capable of.

For one terrible second, I wanted to break. I wanted to walk straight up to him and slap him across the face. I wanted to demand why he’d spent weeks waiting for me only to treat me like this. I wanted to scream at Aria, wipe that smug smile from her face, and tell Kairo exactly what I thought of him.

Anger burned through me, tangled with pain and humiliation until I could barely distinguish one emotion from another. My eyes stung, and I knew that if I allowed myself even one second of weakness, the tears would come.

So I refused.

I straightened my shoulders instead, lifted my chin, and then smiled at Aria. It was the sweetest smile I could manage, but there was something beneath it that made her expression falter.

"Enjoy your evening," I said softly, my voice so calm that even I barely recognized it.

I looked at Kairo one last time, refusing to let him see the devastation he’d caused, and then added nothing more. I didn’t give him the satisfaction of an argument. I didn’t ask him why. I didn’t demand an explanation. I simply turned around and walked away.

Neither of them stopped me.

I kept walking. I didn’t slow down when my vision blurred. I didn’t stop when my chest began aching so badly that breathing felt difficult. I didn’t allow myself to look back, even when every part of me wanted to know whether Kairo was watching me leave.

I crossed the academy corridors with my head held high, pretending that everything was fine until I finally reached my dorm.

The moment the door shut behind me, I locked it. And then my strength disappeared.

My knees gave out beneath me, and I collapsed onto the floor, finally allowing the first broken breath to escape. And then I stopped holding back the tears anymore.