Dante exhaled slowly, as if gathering every ounce of courage he had never needed in his life.
He lifted his head, met her eyes, then his mind screamed: say something smooth.
His heart screamed: say something honest.
His jealousy screamed: say anything before Gabriel says it first.
And the three signals tangled into one catastrophic sentence.
"Miss Alina… I think… I have fallen in love with you," he blurted out, voice stiff and uneven. "Every night my shadows cry for you."
The moment the words left his mouth, he stared at her like he wanted to rewind time, rewrite the line, destroy the universe, and reappear with dignity.
His shadows literally hid behind him.
Shadows cry for you?
Shadows cry?
CRY?
Who says that?
Even his own brain felt secondhand embarrassment.
Alina froze, her eyes wide, her lips parted. Her heart slammed so loudly she almost heard it echo inside the corridor.
She couldn't breathe.
She couldn't move.
