> She loved him like a prayer—softly, endlessly, without asking for anything in return.

In the golden haze of their school days, Ava found her first love in Damien—a boy with a quiet smile and eyes that felt like home. Together, they built dreams in hushed whispers and hallway glances.

But love, no matter how pure, isn’t always enough.
One day, he vanished. No goodbye. No explanation. Only silence.

Ten years have passed. The world has changed. So have they.
But when fate brings them together once more, old wounds stir beneath their carefully built lives.

He's a stranger wearing a familiar face.
She's a memory wrapped in thorns.

And still… their hearts remember.

“Mine, Still” is a soft, aching story of first love, heartbreak, and the fragile beauty of second chances. Because sometimes, even after everything—you never stop belonging to someone.

Not the usual ones I'd gotten used to — the curious glances of being "the new girl" or "Damien's maybe-girlfriend."


No. These were sharper. Meaner. Dripping with quiet judgment.


I could feel the whispers before I even heard them.


Then Chloe ran up to me in the hallway, phone in hand, brows furrowed. "Ava… have you seen this?"


I took the phone from her slowly. My stomach dropped.


A post on the school gossip account. A photo of me and Rylan from that one afternoon in the library. I was leaning over to look at his notebook, and someone had taken it from the worst possible angle.


"New couple alert? Ava Canter moving on fast. Looks like Damien's not the only one in her life."


"People are saying things, Ava. That you were with Rylan all along. That Damien was just a cover-up."


"That's not true!" I cried, heart pounding. "I've never—"


"I know. I know. But you have to tell Damien before he hears it from someone else."


I didn't go looking for the post. It found me.


Actually, Ezra found it first. He burst into the art room, waving his phone like it was on fire.


"Bro," he said, "you better see this now before it spreads worse."


I recognized the library background. I remembered she told me they were studying together once. But the angle of the photo? It was too close. Too… intimate.


Then the caption punched me in the gut.


But the whispers… the way Rylan had been hovering around her lately. The way she blushed when she talked about him once.


"She wouldn't do that," I said quietly.


Ezra looked at me, more serious than I'd seen him in weeks. "Then talk to her. Before this eats you up."


He looked straight at me — not cold, but not warm either. Just… guarded.


I ran up to him. "Damien, you saw it, didn't you?"


"I swear it's fake," I said, breath shaky. "I was just helping Rylan with—"


"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice was low. Controlled. "That you were spending time with him like that?"


"Because it wasn't like that!" I protested. "It's just a picture — twisted into something it's not!"


He looked down for a moment, jaw tight.


"I want to believe you, Ava," he said. "But right now, I don't know what to think."


"I'd never hurt you like that," I whispered.


Chapter 36 - Ava's pov