The car stopped at the tall gates of Blackwell Academy. Ayla sat still for a moment, her
hand tight around her bag strap. The school looked the same. Clean walls. Perfect
lawns. Expensive silence. The kind of silence that made your past feel louder.
She stepped out. Her shoes crunched against the gravel. Students were everywhere,
laughing, talking, pretending. But when they saw her, voices dropped. She felt their
eyes. The whispers started fast.
"She's back."
"After what happened?"
"Does he know?"
Her stomach turned. She walked through them without looking up. Every step felt like
walking into a memory she tried to bury.
Inside the main hall, she stopped by the trophy case. Her reflection stared back at her.
Same brown eyes. Same face. But not the same girl.
A deep voice came from behind. "Didn't think you'd ever show your face here again."
She froze. She didn't have to turn. She knew that voice.
Elian.
The one name she wished she'd never hear again.
He leaned against the wall, arms folded, the same lazy smirk on his face. He wore the
school blazer like it was a crown. Nothing had changed about him except the edge in his
eyes.
Ayla forced a smile. "Missed me already?"
He chuckled, slow and sharp. "Miss isn't the word. Surprised, maybe. I thought you
were too scared to come back."
"Scared?" She stepped closer. "Of what? You?"
Their eyes locked. The hallway faded around them. Years of hate filled the space
between.He tilted his head. "You should've stayed gone."
Her pulse hit her throat. "You'll wish I did."
The bell rang. The hallway emptied. He brushed past her, shoulder hitting hers on
purpose.
"Welcome back, Ayla," he said. "Let's see how long you last this time."
She watched him walk away, her hands shaking. Every word he said dragged her back to
the night everything went wrong. The night she swore she'd make him pay.
As she turned toward her dorm, her phone buzzed. A text appeared from an unknown
number.
"You shouldn't have come back. Some things don't stay buried."
Her breath caught.
Someone else remembered too.
And this time, she wasn't leaving until the truth burned as much as the hate between
them.