Sebastian's POV
I should've felt relieved.
She wasn't scared of me anymore.
She'd said it like a quiet kind of defiance—her voice barely above a whisper, but her chin tilted high like it mattered. Like it cost her something to say it out loud.
And maybe it did.
Because I remembered every single thing I'd said to her.
Every look. Every laugh I didn't stop. Every whisper I let fester in the halls.I remembered the time she flinched when I dropped a pen near her hand in the dissection lab.I remembered how she stopped eating, stopped talking.How she disappeared for a week and came back looking like a stranger in her own skin.
She had every reason to stay scared of me.
But here she was. Standing in front of me, wearing the necklace I gave her like it meant something.
God, I wanted to touch it.
I wanted to brush her hair over her shoulder and see it lying against her collarbone again. See it glitter in the light like I'd dreamed about more nights than I could admit.
But I didn't move.
"I'm sorry," I said instead.
It came out hoarse. Ugly.
She blinked. I wasn't sure she believed me.
Hell, I wasn't sure I believed myself.
"You always say things that feel like weapons," she murmured. "Even when they sound soft."
That one cut.Deeper than I expected.
I clenched my jaw. Looked away.
"I don't know how to talk to you," I admitted.
"I don't think you ever tried," she said.
She was right.
God, she was right.
I ran a hand through my hair. The room was cold, but my palms were sweating.
"I didn't think you'd come back," I said. "Not to class. Not to me."
"I didn't come back to you," she replied, voice quiet. "I came back because I deserve to be here."
Something split inside me.
That was the difference between us.She'd suffered in silence. And survived.I'd watched her suffer and pretended it wasn't my fault.
But it was.
It was all mine.
"I know I hurt you," I said. "I don't expect forgiveness. I just… I'm glad you wore it."
She didn't smile. But she didn't look away either.
I took a slow step back.Then another.
If I stayed too long, I'd ruin whatever tiny crack of peace we'd managed to create.
"Happy birthday, Rain Wang," I said quietly.
Her breath hitched.
And then I left.
Not because I wanted to.But because if I stayed—
I would've begged.