The Academy's corridors were silent, bathed in the soft light streaming through the tall windows. Jon walked unhurriedly, his footsteps echoing on the polished stone floor. His mind, however, was far from the cold walls or the students hurrying to their classes.
'These first-year practical classes are useless for me.'
He clutched the notebook against his chest, his thoughts lining up logically. 'My system is special. Just by reading those books, I've unlocked passive skills that would take months for anyone else. And then... a little practice was enough to evolve them easily. While the others are busy training the basics, I'm already several steps ahead.'
His lips curved into a discreet smile, but he quickly erased it. 'If I skip every class this year, I'll draw too much attention. That would be a mistake. I need to balance things.'
"Not going to any class right now, Jon?"
The voice came suddenly, but Jon didn't react. He kept walking, lost in his calculations.
The same voice came again, louder this time and with a hint of irony. "As always... you're lost in thought, planning everything, ignoring the people around you."
Jon blinked, truly interrupted this time. He turned instinctively to the side and, surprised, faced the figure walking beside him.
"Gwen? What a surprise." He tried to sound natural, but his voice carried a trace of strangeness. "Do you need something? I was thinking about the practical classes."
She raised her eyebrows, crossing her arms over her chest. "Do I need a reason to talk to my friend? I saw you walking and decided to say hi."
Her tone had a faint edge of discontent. Jon noticed immediately and averted his gaze, looking at the large tapestries decorating the corridor. 'She hasn't changed in that regard... always direct when she feels she's being left out.'
"I didn't mean to sound distant." He scratched the back of his neck, an involuntary gesture, as he searched for a softer answer. "It's just that... lately I've been busier than it seems."
Gwen sighed, her blue eyes fixed on him for a few moments. "You've always been like this. Even in Riverwood, you seemed to carry something you couldn't share with anyone."
Jon felt a tightness in his chest at her words. Memories of his childhood with her, before everything changed, surfaced. He took a deep breath, trying to maintain his composure.
"Maybe I just don't want to share certain things."
Gwen smiled faintly, but there was a shadow in her expression. "Then at least don't forget you still have people willing to listen, even if you think you don't need it."
For a moment, they walked side by side in silence.
"I was too," Jon said, the words slipping out before he could stop them, "when you didn't send a single word for three years, not even to clear things up."
The silent corridor became a stage for a confession held back for far too long. He didn't sound like a spoiled teenager who couldn't understand the weight of the world. On the contrary, his voice carried the cold calm of someone who had already learned, in the bitterest way, that promises could shatter with time.
On Earth, he had seen it happen. Friends who swore they'd stand by him, loves that felt eternal, everyone drifted away. Some betrayed him without a second thought. Even so, Jon was still human. And in that moment, standing before Gwen, he couldn't avoid the weight of his frustration. He had felt betrayed.
Gwen stopped walking. The silence between them weighed heavier than the words spoken. Her blue eyes widened, and for an instant she didn't know how to respond.
"Jon..." her voice came out low, hesitant. "I... I know I should have written. But..." She bit her lip, looking away. "Things weren't as simple as they seem."
Jon stared at her steadily. "Nothing is simple. But a single note would have been enough."
She clenched her fists at her sides. The pride that had always accompanied her was locking her words, but the guilt was there too, visible in every gesture.
"I wanted to write to you so many times." Gwen closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
Jon sighed, running a hand through his hair. 'She might have her reasons, but that doesn't change what I felt. I wasn't just a boy waiting for some reply. I was someone who believed in her.'
The corridor remained empty, but the weight of the past filled every space between them.
Gwen drew a long breath before speaking again, her eyes fixed on Jon's. "Can we talk in my room? Just the two of us."
Jon raised an eyebrow, an ironic smile forming on his lips. "Doesn't seem right to enter a girl's room when she's taken, especially alone."
She pressed her lips together, no humor in her gaze. "I'm not asking for anything beyond a conversation. I want... to explain everything that happened."
Her serious tone erased any trace of joking. Jon hesitated for a moment, but in the end nodded silently.
A little later, already inside Gwen's room, the atmosphere was completely different. The space reflected her delicacy, but now it was heavy with a tension they couldn't ignore. Gwen sat on the edge of the bed, hands clasped, while Jon remained standing, leaning against the wall, waiting.
"My mother has always had fragile health." Gwen began, her voice low but firm. "But at that time, things got much worse. We tried everything. Healers, potions, elixirs, any remedy we could buy. Nothing worked."
She paused, her eyes misting with the memories. "When everything seemed lost... it was Roderic who used all his family's influence to hire Seraphine. He didn't ask for anything in return. And thanks to her, my mother was healed."
Jon clenched his fists but said nothing.
"After that, he and I grew closer." Gwen looked away, as if it were hard to meet Jon's eyes. "The only thing he asked of me was a chance. For one year, I wouldn't keep contact with you, and during that time he'd try to get closer. He said that if after that year I felt nothing, he would step aside."
She took a deep breath, her voice trembling. "In the end... I don't know if it was the fact that he saved my mother's life when I was desperate, or the way he treated me. He made me feel like a princess. I really started to feel drawn to him."
The silence between them grew heavier. Jon remained still, his gaze dark.
"But even so..." Gwen tightened her hands in her lap. "I still thought of you. Feeling that it was wrong, I pulled away, believing that if you forgot me, everything would remain just a good memory."
Her voice dropped to a whisper. "And that's what happened, Jon. At least... that's what I hoped."
Jon closed his eyes for a moment. 'So that was the reason... she erased me from her life, hoping I'd do the same.'
He drew a deep breath, letting the silence stretch until Gwen raised her hesitant eyes to him. There was no anger on his face, only a serene weight.
"I'm not going to blame you." His voice was calm, almost gentle. "The truth is I don't know what I would've done in your place." When he thought about the happiness she had lived here with her parents—something he had never experienced on Earth—he couldn't imagine what it would be like to watch his mother dying and not be able to save her.
He looked down, a shadow of a sad smile on his lips. "You made the choice you believed was right. And maybe it was. But that's in the past. The best we can do is leave it there... and move forward."
His words cut Gwen deeper than any accusation. She clenched her fists tightly, fighting back the tears threatening to fall. The relief of not being hated mixed with the sadness of realizing the distance between them now felt greater than ever.
Somewhere deep in her heart, she knew it was selfish to keep hoping everything would return to how it once was. But no one can control their own heart…