Chapter 3

He walked straight over to Seren.

His first reaction wasn’t to look at me.

Instead, he checked to see if Seren was crying.

In the next second, Cassian turned his head toward me, his eyes filled with immense disappointment.

“Elowen Ashcroft.

“Can you really not stand her to this extent?”

It felt as though something had detonated right beside my ear.

I stared at him in utter disbelief.

“What do you mean by that?

“Do you also think I put those drugs in her locker?”

Cassian remained silent, offering no answer.

Yet, the silence itself was an answer.

A laugh suddenly escaped my lips, though the corners of my eyes slowly grew red.

“Cassian, you didn’t even ask a single question before deciding it was me?”

Cassian frowned.

“The drugs were found in your locker. The evidence is already clear enough.”

I stared at him in stunned silence.

Suddenly, I remembered five years ago.

It was the first time I competed in the National Championships.

Because of a mistake off the board, the judges called a violation on me.

Everyone assumed I had committed the foul on purpose.

My coach berated me, reporters ambushed me for interviews, and doubts flooded the internet.

Only Cassian stood up for me and said, “I believe her. Elowen Ashcroft would never do something like that.”

Back then, I felt like the luckiest person in the whole world.

Because someone was standing unconditionally by my side.

Yet now, that very same person didn’t even grant me a chance to explain.

I was suspended from the team for three months.

After everyone left, I was the only person remaining in the vast training center.

I sat at the very top row of the bleachers.

A wave of dizziness swept over me.

How on earth had Cassian and I reached this point?

I began training in diving at age seven and joined the state team at twelve.

Cassian was the head coach’s son, four years older than me.

When I was little, I used to hide in the corner and cry secretly after practice ended.

Cassian would always appear out of nowhere with a popsicle and shove it into my hand.

“Why are you crying?

“If you didn’t dive well, just keep practicing.”

I would glare at him angrily.

“Easy for you to say! I’ve been practicing the entire day!”

Cassian laughed and reached out to ruffle my hair.

“Elowen, you’re definitely going to become a world champion in the future.”

When I turned eighteen, we got together without telling anyone.

Later, I made it onto the national team.

After graduating from the sports university, Cassian became the youngest international diving judge in the country.

I always believed that we would stay together for decades to come.

Until three years ago, when a newcomer joined the squad.

Seren Lockwood.

She was small and skinny when she first arrived.

Her training results were unimpressive, and she was frequently scolded by the coach for technical errors.

Every night, I stayed behind with her, practicing late into the night.

I taught her how to adjust her takeoff angle, how to control her body in midair, and how to minimize her entry splash.

Cassian would sit up on the bleachers, watching us.

I wasn’t sure when it started, but Cassian began visiting the training facility more and more frequently.

After practice, if Seren mentioned being afraid of walking in the dark, Cassian would drive halfway across the city just to send her back to her dorm.

The messages he sent me changed from “You dived well today” to “Seren isn’t in a good headspace today, so I’ll stay with her for a while.”

Back then, I comforted myself.

Seren was young and newly added to the national team, so Cassian was simply taking care of a junior.

Only later did I finally understand.

The boy who used to wipe my tears away, shove popsicles into my hands, and look at me with eyes full of warmth was gone.

I was the one who had been fooling myself all along.