Selina wasn't okay.But she was better than before.
It had been a week since her heart stopped whispering maybes and started speaking truth.The dream she once clung to — the one where Jayden liked her — had shattered.But from that wreckage, she started rebuilding something better: herself.
She didn't hate him.Never could.She just… let go.Or tried to.
But letting go of a feeling doesn't mean it stops living somewhere inside you.
Jayden felt it too.
That shift.That quiet between them that used to feel like tension… now just felt like loss.
Not of a relationship — they never had one.But of a chance.And that might've hurt more.
He'd see her walking across campus, headphones in, eyes ahead, like nothing could touch her now.And he hated that he used to be what made her smile.
Not anymore.
That afternoon, fate (or whatever) put them in the same place — again.The tree.Her tree.
Selina was sitting under it, music low this time, just watching the clouds pass.Lost in thought — but not sad. Just… quiet.
Jayden stood a few feet away, unsure.
He could walk away. Like always.
But not this time.
"Hey," he said gently, voice almost unsure.
She looked up, startled. Pulled her headphones off.
Their eyes met.
"...Hey."
A pause. Too much weight in the silence.
"I didn't mean to scare you," he said.
"You didn't," she replied, soft. "Just surprised me."
Another pause.
Then he sat down next to her, not too close — just enough. The wind carried the tension away.
"I saw you here the other day," he started, eyes on the grass. "Wanted to say something. But I didn't."
She nodded slowly. "I know. I saw you too."
A little smile touched her lips. Sad, but warm.
"Selina," he said, finally looking at her, "I don't know what I was doing before. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"You didn't mean to, but… you did," she said, honest but not angry.
He nodded. "I know. I messed it up."
She looked at him, fully now. No fear. No pretending.
"You confused me, Jayden. I thought I imagined everything between us. The looks. The small moments. I thought I built it all in my head."
"You didn't," he said quickly, voice full of something real. "It was real for me too."
That stopped her breath.
"Then why'd you act like I didn't matter?"
"I was scared," he admitted. "Scared I'd read it wrong. Scared I wasn't enough. You… you felt like this light I wasn't ready for."
She blinked. Swallowed. Her heart pounding now.
"And you felt like the one person who saw me when I felt invisible," she whispered. "That meant more than you probably realized."
They sat in the silence again — but this time, it wasn't heavy.
It was full.
Full of all the words they'd finally said.
Jayden reached for her hand — slow, gentle, letting her pull away if she wanted.But she didn't.
Their fingers laced.
"I like you, Selina," he said, plain and honest. "Not just the way you look at me — but the way you look at the world. The way you feel things. That matters to me."
She felt tears press behind her eyes — not sadness. Not even relief. Just truth.
"I like you too," she said, voice small but steady. "Even after everything. Even now. Maybe especially now."
He smiled.
And this time, so did she — really smiled.
No more wondering.No more "maybe."Just this.
Two people.Finally on the same page.
And the beginning of something real.