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Chapter 73: The Distance Between Us

作者: Daisy_justwrite
last update 公開日: 2026-07-04 01:42:38

Lila noticed the change before she understood it.

Ethan still texted her every morning.

Still asked if she’d eaten.

Still walked her to class whenever their schedules matched.

But something was different.

He smiled less.

He laughed less.

And whenever Lucas joined them, Ethan somehow found a reason to leave.

At first, she told herself she was imagining it.

By the end of the week, she knew she wasn’t.

“You’re staring.”

Lila looked up from her notebook.

Maya slid into the chair across from her in
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  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 100: The Hospital

    The ambulance arrived within minutes.Everything after that happened in a blur.Lila barely remembered climbing into Ethan’s truck behind the ambulance.She barely noticed the red traffic lights they passed or the rain beginning to fall again.Her eyes never left the flashing emergency lights ahead.Vanessa had collapsed.One moment they had been discussing birth records.The next…She wasn’t moving.Lila sat with her hands clasped tightly in her lap.“She’s going to be okay.”Ethan said quietly.Lila nodded, though she wasn’t sure she believed it.“I should’ve noticed.”“You couldn’t have.”“She kept saying she was tired.”“She hadn’t been eating properly.”“I should’ve said something.”Ethan reached across the center console and gently squeezed her hand.“You don’t have to carry every bad thing that happens.”She looked at him.“I know.”“But I always try.”“I know.”The emergency department was crowded.Doctors and nurses rushed through the corridors.Monitors beeped from every dir

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 99: The Truth Changes Shape

    The silence in the archives felt heavier than ever.For the first time in months, Lila’s phone hadn’t buzzed with an anonymous message.No threats.No warnings.No mysterious emails.It should have felt like a victory.Instead, it felt as if someone had simply stopped speaking because they no longer needed to.Vanessa closed her laptop with a quiet sigh.“I don’t like this.”Lila looked up from the stack of birth records.“You think they’re planning something?”“I think people don’t disappear.”“They wait.”Before Lila could answer, the archive door opened.Ethan stepped inside.He looked tired, but there was something different about him.A quiet determination.Lila immediately noticed the old brown envelope tucked beneath his arm.“You found Carter.”Ethan nodded.“I did.”Vanessa stood so quickly her chair scraped across the floor.“Is he all right?”“I think so.”“He can’t come back yet.”“Why not?”“Because he believes someone inside the university is helping cover this up.”Neit

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 98: One Last Chance

    Ethan stood motionless in the parking lot long after Professor Carter’s words faded into silence.The phone was still pressed against his ear.“Professor?”No answer.“Professor Carter!”Only static.Then the call disconnected.He immediately called the number back.This number is unavailable.His pulse quickened.The call hadn’t lasted more than a minute, yet it had changed everything.“I wasn’t the only one watching you.”The words echoed in his head.Less than twenty minutes later, Ethan was driving toward the address Carter had quietly given him before ending the call.It was an abandoned church on the outskirts of the city.The place looked forgotten.Tall weeds surrounded the cracked stone walls, and stained-glass windows had long since been broken by time.The parking lot was empty.Ethan stepped out of his truck and looked around.“Professor?”His voice disappeared into the silence.The old church door creaked open.Carter stood inside.He looked exhausted.His beard had grown

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 97: The Confession

    No one spoke after Richard’s words.The old archives suddenly felt too small.Too quiet.Lila stared at him, waiting.“So…” she said carefully, “who signed the document?”Richard looked down at the financial records in his hands. He seemed older than he had the day before.“I need you all to promise me something.”Ethan frowned.“Dad…”“Please.”His voice was unusually serious.“If I’m going to tell you this, you have to hear all of it before you judge me.”Lila’s stomach tightened.She nodded.“I promise.”Vanessa and Ethan exchanged a glance before agreeing.Richard slowly lowered himself into a chair.“I’ve kept this secret for eighteen years.”Lila felt her heartbeat quicken.“Eighteen years?”Richard nodded.“I didn’t hide it because I wanted to.”“I hid it because I thought I was protecting people.”He rubbed a hand across his face.“Maybe I was wrong.”Silence settled over the room.Then he began.“I knew Elena.”Lila’s breath caught.Not from newspaper clippings.Not from old

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 96: The Missing Evidence

    Vanessa burst into the library carrying a cardboard archive box so carelessly that several folders nearly spilled onto the floor.“Lila!”Heads turned.The usually quiet library filled with curious stares.Lila immediately stood.“What happened?”“They’re gone.”Vanessa struggled to catch her breath.“The DNA samples.”Ethan frowned.“What do you mean, gone?”“The lab checked the storage vault twice.”“They’ve disappeared.”Lila felt the blood drain from her face.“But they were secured.”“They were.”Vanessa replied.“Someone used an authorized access code.”“So whoever took them…”“…had permission.”Or at least wanted the system to believe they did.For a long moment, none of them spoke.The missing DNA wasn’t just evidence.It was proof.Proof that someone was still trying to control the truth.An hour later, the four of them sat inside the university archives.Old financial ledgers covered the table.Vanessa had spent the morning requesting records from organizations connected to

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 95: Hope

    Lila couldn’t stop looking at the security photo.Elena’s face filled the screen of her phone.Older.Tired.But unmistakably the same woman from the photographs Carter had hidden.She had been real.She hadn’t been a ghost from the past.She was alive.And for the first time, hope felt real enough to touch.The campus was unusually quiet that afternoon.Most students were still talking about Professor Carter’s disappearance, but Lila had stopped listening to the rumors.Every thought she had led back to Elena.She sat on a bench overlooking the lake, absentmindedly tracing circles on the lid of her coffee cup.A familiar voice broke the silence.“I thought I’d find you here.”She looked up.Ethan stood a few feet away, his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket.“You always know where to look.”He smiled.“I’m getting better at it.”She laughed softly.“You are.”He sat beside her.For a while, neither of them spoke.The breeze stirred the surface of the lake, sending tiny rippl

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 37: The Truth He Tried to Bury

    Lila couldn’t move.The message glowed on her screen.Now she knows.Her hands trembled.The parking lot around her suddenly felt unfamiliar.Unsafe.Too open.Too exposed.“Lila?”Ethan’s voice pulled her back.He had moved closer without her noticing.His expression had changed completely.The fr

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 5: Sabotage on Campus

    The next morning, Lila tried to convince herself that yesterday was just a one-time encounter.It wasn’t.By the time she reached the campus quad, whispers started almost immediately. Students turned their heads as she passed, some snickering, some staring.She clutched her books tighter.Then she

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 4: Sabotage and Sparks

    The next day, Lila arrived at the library early, determined to get a head start on tutoring. Her backpack was slung over one shoulder, her notebook clutched tightly, and her heart still raced from yesterday’s session.She wasn’t nervous about the tutoring itself. She was nervous about Vanessa.Beca

  • The Nerd and the Hockey King    Chapter 3: The First Session

    The library smelled faintly of old books and coffee, a smell that usually calmed Lila. Today, it did nothing.Her hands were shaking slightly as she pushed open the heavy wooden door.Ethan Ryder was already there. Sitting at one of the long tables, his hockey bag at his feet, jersey sleeves rolled

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