Chapter 37: Cracks Beneath the Surface

The days following Vivian's public commitment to Daniel Ashford were like navigating through heavy, sticky fog.

Ethan had trouble faking indifference. He teased his friends. He flirted with women. He played the part of the charming, unattainable Ethan Carter.

But inside, something was leaking, raw and ugly.

Every time he looked at Vivian—her thin hand on Daniel's arm, that civility stretched so tight across her face—something inside him cracked a little more.

And Vivian?

She felt every inch of that space, too.

She sat at the back of her classes these days, mute, mechanical.

Her laughter was gone. Her smiles artificial.

The fire that had once blazed between them was reduced to furtive glances, agonized silences, and heavy stares that said everything and nothing simultaneously.

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Late one afternoon, when the spring rain lashed against the windows and most of the students had long since deserted the halls, Ethan found her.

Vivian was sitting in the library, books spread out in front of