chapter 19

Elena sat in her room, the warm glow of her desk lamp illuminating the stacks of papers she hadn’t touched in hours. Her mind was elsewhere, trapped in a whirlwind of conflicting emotions that refused to let her focus. The question that had haunted her for weeks now loomed larger than ever: could she truly forgive Elliot?

She had spent so much time trying to understand him, deciphering the person he had become versus the boy he had been. On the surface, it seemed like he had changed—his actions were kinder, his demeanor softer, and his apologies more frequent, even if they were subtle. But beneath it all, the pain of the past still lingered, a wound that hadn’t quite healed.

Forgiveness, she realized, wasn’t a simple decision. It wasn’t something she could give lightly, especially not to someone who had been the source of so much misery during her most vulnerable years.

The memories came flooding back: the cruel pranks, the mocking laughter, and the endless sense of humiliation sh