Selene's/Atasha's POV;
I couldn't take it anymore—the quiet torment of curiosity, the magnetic pull toward someone who constantly kept a part of himself locked away. That day, as we walked side by side down the tree-lined path outside school, our shadows stretching long and uneven behind us, I felt the questions rise like a storm inside me. I glanced at him, his eyes fixed ahead, lost in some private reverie, and I knew—he wasn't really here, not fully. Not with me. "Why do you always avoid talking about your past?" I asked, the words falling out with more tremble than I intended. He blinked, surprised, then gave a smile that looked more like a mask cracking at the edges. "There's not much to tell," he said quietly, but it wasn't true—I could hear the weight of something unsaid in every syllable. "That's a lie," I whispered, my voice breaking. "You know things about me that I've never told you. You show up where I don't expect you. You say things like we've shared memories, but we haven't. And you're always—always—hiding." He stopped walking. The wind carried a silence between us that pressed heavy on my chest. He looked at me then, and for a brief moment, the mask slipped completely. His eyes—usually calm and unreadable—flashed with something deep, something like regret… and fear. "There are things I've done. Things I can't explain yet," he said, voice low, almost inaudible. "But I never meant to hurt you, Selene. I never wanted you to see that part of me." My breath caught in my throat. I was staring at someone I thought I knew, only to realize I'd fallen for a stranger built from silence and shadows. And yet, in the ache of the unknown, my heart still pulled toward him—recklessly, hopelessly, like a moth to the flame that might burn me.
Antonio's POV;
I watched her walk away, her shoulders tense, her steps unsteady, and all I wanted was to run after her and say everything. Every damn thing. But how could I? How could I explain that I'd known about her long before we officially met? That the night I saw her being chased by those dogs wasn't fate—it was planned. Not by her. By me. Because I'd been searching for her. Watching from a distance, silently studying the girl who unknowingly carried a piece of my past. She thinks I'm a mystery, but she doesn't know—she's the answer to mine. I never meant for this to go this far, but the more I got to know her, the more real it became. The more she became real. Selene—no, Atasha—is the only person who's ever made me feel like I didn't have to run from myself. And yet, here I am, still hiding. Still choking on my truth. I reached for my phone a dozen times, typing and deleting the same message: "There's something I need to tell you." But I couldn't send it. Because once I do, she'll know everything. And I don't know if she'll forgive me for the lies that built the foundation of what we have.