ė”ź·øģøBelle POVMorning came like it always did.Quiet.Unforgiving.Uninterested in what had broken the night before.Belle stood in front of the mirror, her reflection staring back at her with the same calm expression she had mastered over the years. There were no visible cracks. No trembling. No sign of the storm that had torn through her just hours ago.Just⦠stillness.Her fingers moved automatically, brushing through her hair, smoothing it down, fixing the small details no one else would noticeābut she always did.Because control lived in the details.And she needed control.Now more than ever.For a brief second, her hand paused.Just a second.Her mindāIt drifted.Not far.Just enough.Arms around her.Warm.Steady.Unmoving.Safe.Her grip tightened slightly on the edge of the dresser.No.Her jaw set.The memory didnāt belong here.Didnāt belong in the morning.Didnāt belong in this version of her.Belle inhaled slowly, deeply.Then exhaled.And just like thatāIt was gone.Locke
Ethan POVHe didnāt move at first.Even after the sobs softened.Even after the storm inside her quieted into something fragile and uneven.Ethan stayed where he wasājust a few steps away, hidden behind the tree, his gaze fixed on her like looking away might make her disappear.Because now he knew.Not everything.But enough.Enough to understand that what she carried wasnāt something small.Wasnāt something she could just āget over.āIt was heavy.It was guilt.And it was slowly destroying her.His jaw tightened slightly.āā¦damn it, Belleā¦āThe words left his lips quietly, almost swallowed by the stillness of the river.For a moment, he considered staying where he was.Letting her have this moment alone.Letting her rebuild herself the way she always didāsilently, carefully, without anyone seeing.Thatās what she would want.Thatās what she was used to.But something in him rejected that idea immediately.Because now that he had seen itāReally seen itāHe couldnāt pretend he didnāt.
Belle POVBelle didnāt go to class.She walked past it.Past the door.Past the voices.Past the version of herself that usually sat by the window, quiet and untouched.Her steps didnāt slow.Didnāt hesitate.Didnāt think.Because thinking meant remembering.And rememberingāWas the one thing she couldnāt survive right now.The school gates blurred behind her.The noise faded.The world shifted from crowded hallways and suffocating stares to something quieter.Lonelier.The road stretched ahead, leading out of the city.Outskirts.Somewhere no one would follow.Or so she thought.---Ethan POVHe knew something was wrong.Not just āoff.āNot just ādifferent.āWrong.The moment she walked past himālike he didnāt existāhe felt it again.That same emptiness.But now?It had direction.She wasnāt just drifting.She was going somewhere.And EthanāWithout thinking.Without questioning it.Followed.At a distance.Far enough that she wouldnāt notice.Close enough that he wouldnāt lose her.
Ethan POVSomething was off.Ethan felt it before he even saw her.The school buzzed like alwaysālaughter spilling too loudly into the halls, lockers slamming, voices overlapping in meaningless noise. It was the kind of chaos he usually ignored without effort. None of it ever held his attention long enough to matter.But todayā¦His focus was already somewhere else.Unconsciously, his eyes drifted toward the entrance.Scanning.Waitingāthough he wouldnāt admit it.ThenāThere.Belle.She stepped through the gates like she always did. Quiet. Controlled. Almost invisible if you werenāt looking for her.But he was.And instantlyāhe knew.Something had changed.Ethanās eyes narrowed slightly, his body going still in a way that was almost predatory.Her steps were the same.Her posture⦠the same.But her faceāIt was colder.Not the usual indifference that irritated him. Not the distant calm that made her unreadable.This was different.This was⦠empty.Like someone had taken everything ins
Belle POV The house was too quiet.Belle noticed it the moment she stepped inside.It wasnāt just the absence of soundāit was the kind of silence that pressed against your ears, heavy and suffocating, like the walls themselves were holding their breath.No distant hum of her motherās voice drifting from a phone call.No sharp clicking of heels against the polished marble floor.No forced conversations pretending everything was fine.Just⦠silence.Her fingers tightened slightly around the strap of her bag as she pushed the door closed behind her. Slowly. Carefully.Like the smallest sound might shatter something fragile.Or worseāalert something waiting.Her heart didnāt race.It never did anymore.Instead, it sank.A quiet, sinking feeling deep in her chest, like she already knew what this silence meant.Like she had lived it too many times before.āBelle.āHer steps stopped instantly.Her fatherās voice.From the living room.Not loud. Not angry.Just⦠there.And somehow, that was
Ethan POVThe classroom buzzed with low chatter, chairs scraping lightly against the floor as students settled in. Ethan leaned back in his seat, one arm draped lazily over the chair beside him, gaze half-focused on the front.Half-focused.Because the other half?Was on her.Belle sat near the window, exactly where he expected. Same posture. Same quiet presence. Same headphones tucked neatly over her ears like the world outside didnāt exist.Like they didnāt exist.Ethanās eyes narrowed slightly.āShe does that everywhereā¦ā he muttered under his breath.The lecturerās voice cut through the room, sharp and commanding.āSettle down.āSilence followed almost immediately.A middle-aged man with a strict posture and even stricter expression, he turned to the board and began writing, chalk scratching loudly against the surface.Ethan triedāhe really didāto focus.But his gaze kept drifting.Back to her.She hadnāt moved.Hadnāt looked up.Hadnāt even pretended to care.Her pen rested loose







