The sky was turning violet, the last traces of daylight fading into the slow creep of night. The sound of the sea below had changed — gentler now, like the world was holding its breath.
Velithra hadn't moved for a while. She sat on the low stone wall near the overlook, her knees drawn up slightly, her gaze lost in the distance. Kai leaned against a tree a few steps away, hands in his pockets, watching her like she was something he couldn't look away from even if he tried.
Neither of them spoke. The silence wasn't awkward anymore — it had grown into something that meant something. A space that felt… shared.
Finally, Kai broke it."Do you ever wonder what it would be like to start over?"
Velithra blinked, turning toward him. "Start over?"
He nodded. "Different place. Different people. Just—erase everything. Begin again."
She thought about it for a moment, eyes lowering. "I used to. All the time."
"And now?"
She hesitated. "Now… I don't think I'd know who to be."
Kai pushed off the tree and walked toward her, stopping just close enough that she could feel his shadow over her. "You don't have to know who to be. You just have to stop being who they told you to be."
Velithra met his gaze — really met it this time. His eyes were darker in the dim light, unreadable, but filled with something fierce.
"That's easy for you to say," she murmured.
He let out a low, humorless laugh. "You think so?"
She frowned, sensing something sharp under his tone. "You sound like you've tried it."
"I did," he said quietly. "Didn't work."
Velithra's breath caught. She wanted to ask what happened, but before she could, he looked away — jaw tight, hands curling in his pockets.
The wall between them, invisible but fragile, shifted. She could feel it — how close he was to saying something he hadn't said in years.
But then, voices drifted up from the base of the hill — laughter, familiar, sharp.
Velithra froze.
Kai followed her gaze, his body tensing instantly. A group of students had wandered up the road — classmates, faces half-lit by phone screens. One of the girls looked up, squinting.
"Wait… is that—?"
Velithra's chest constricted. Panic crawled up her throat.
Kai stepped closer, his voice low. "Hey. Look at me."
She did, barely breathing.
"Let them see," he said, eyes locked on hers. "You don't have to hide anymore."
Her pulse roared in her ears. The laughter from below grew louder. The old fear surged — that familiar instinct to shrink, to vanish.
But when she met Kai's eyes again, steady and unflinching, she didn't move.
For the first time, she didn't run.