By the time Velithra reached school the next morning, the halls were already buzzing.Laughter, slamming lockers, hurried footsteps — the usual chaos. But it all felt distant, like she was walking through it instead of in it.
She blamed the smile she couldn't quite get rid of.
She'd tried. She really had. But every time her thoughts drifted, she saw Kai — the faint smirk when he'd teased her, the warmth in his eyes when he said goodnight.
And no matter how many times she told herself it didn't mean anything… it did.
She walked into class, trying to look normal. But the moment she stepped inside, her fake friends — the ones who never missed a rumor — turned toward her like sharks smelling blood.
"Velithraaa," one of them sing-songed from her seat, "you're smiling. That's new."
Velithra blinked. "Am I not allowed to?"
The girl laughed. "No, it's just—what happened? You look like you actually slept last night."
"Maybe I did," Velithra said, keeping her tone flat.
But her pulse was betraying her, and the heat rising in her face didn't help.
From the back of the room, a voice spoke — low and calm."Maybe she just had a better morning."
It was Kai.
He'd slipped into his seat with that same careless grace he always had, his head tilted slightly as he looked at her.
The girls exchanged quick glances, a few smirks passing between them. One of them whispered something Velithra couldn't quite hear, and another laughed too loudly.
Velithra rolled her eyes, muttering, "Unbelievable," before walking past them and dropping into her seat.
Kai's voice came again, quieter this time — just for her. "You okay?"
She looked over her shoulder. He wasn't smiling, not really. But there was something in his eyes that made her forget the noise around them.
"Yeah," she said softly. "Just tired."
Kai leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on his hand. "You sure? Because you're doing that thing again."
She frowned. "What thing?"
"The fake smile. You're worse at it than you think."
Velithra blinked at him — startled, caught, then almost amused. "You're observant."
He shrugged. "Only when it's you."
Her heart tripped over itself. She quickly looked away, pretending to pull out her notebook.
The bell rang, and the teacher began to speak, but Velithra wasn't listening.She could still feel Kai's gaze on her — steady, unreadable, like he was memorizing something.
Halfway through class, their eyes met again.Neither looked away.
And in that small, quiet moment — surrounded by whispers and pens scratching across paper — something unspoken passed between them. Something that felt like the beginning of something real.