🎬 PROLOGUE – Invisible
He watched her. Always.
When she laughed too loudly in class.
When she walked through the hallways, bag slung over one shoulder, chewing gum in her mouth.
When she talked about him… his friend.
She had no idea.
No idea that his silences were filled with her.
No idea that he was fighting that pain every single day.
And still, he was there.
Always there.
Handing her his jacket when she was cold.
Waiting for her when she cried over a boy who couldn't even see her worth.
Loving her in silence.
> He was protecting her heart… while she was breaking his without even knowing.
---
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I always protected her.
Even when she didn't realize it.
Even when she looked at someone else.
Even when her laughter belonged to Kayden — and I had to settle for the echo.
I never told her I loved her.
I never dared.
Because I knew that if I did…
I'd lose her for good.
So I stayed.
In the shadows.
There when she cried, when she fell, when she doubted.
Piecing her back together.
Never asking for more.
But the more I fixed her,
the more I broke myself.
Because the worst part
isn't that she doesn't love me.
The worst part is that she thinks I'll always stay.
Forever.
And one day, she'll understand.
When she reaches out her hand and I'm no longer there.
When she says "Nolan?" and that name no longer answers.
That day, she'll know:
> It wasn't Kayden who broke her heart.
It was me.
---
🖤 CHAPTER 1 — Invisible to Her Eyes
She was laughing.
That kind of laugh that bursts out without warning — honest, radiant…
the kind of laugh she saved only for him.
Kayden.
They were sitting on the wall behind the gym.
Alba had her hair down, eyes shining, and that smile…
that smile she had never given me.
I was there. Two meters away.
A ghost.
A shadow among them.
— You coming, Nolan? she called out, not even really looking at me.
I walked over. Like always.
Present, helpful, kind.
Never the one they chose.
Kayden clapped me on the back with that effortless ease that always rubbed me the wrong way.
He was everything I wasn't: funny without trying, confident without arrogance.
And she adored him.
— We're talking about Mia's party on Saturday, Alba said. Kayden asked me to go with him.
And then… she blushed.
Her. Alba.
The girl who rarely laughed.
The one I'd known since we were ten.
And she blushed… for him.
— Cool, I murmured.
But something hollow opened in my chest.
I watched them and felt like I was suffocating.
Every detail burned:
the way she looked at him,
the way she let him get close,
the way I no longer really existed in her eyes.
But I stayed silent.
I always would.
Because if I speak, if I scream, if I say I love you,
she'll pull away.
And I'd rather suffer a thousand silences than one goodbye.
So I smiled.
A careful, practiced smile.
And when she looked at me and said, You'll come too, right?
I nodded.
As if I had a choice.
As if I still knew how to tell her no.
> But I already knew:
that party would break me a little more.
---
✦ CHAPTER 2 — The Art of Disappearing
Friday.
The day before the party.
The day everything still looked intact —
even though underneath, it was already cracking.
At school, Alba wore her usual black jeans and oversized hoodie —
but her lips were red.
Not tinted lip balm red.
Not "I did this with my finger" red.
No. The kind of red you wear when you want someone to notice.
Maybe Kayden noticed.
Maybe he didn't need to.
Maybe it was for him.
She walked into class late, laughing about something I didn't catch.
She didn't see me.
Or maybe she did — just not the way she used to.
> I was still there.
But she no longer looked for me.
---
Lunch.
We were all at the same table, like always.
Kayden talked about the party like he was already drunk on it.
Everyone laughed.
Alba leaned in closer when he whispered something.
I sat across from them, half-listening, chewing a tasteless sandwich.
But I was watching her.
Alba glowed in the sun.
Not pretty like a magazine girl.
Pretty like something real. Soft. Sharp. Dangerous.
She laughed again.
And her hand brushed against his — just for a second, just enough.
My heart didn't break all at once.
It cracked. Quietly.
> Like something old that's been held together too long.
Kayden looked at me.
— You're still coming tomorrow, right?
I nodded.
I hated that I did.
But saying no would make her ask why.
And I couldn't bear the thought of her caring — even a little.
Because if she cared...
I might believe I still had a place in her world.