Because you weren’t supposed to save them.
You were supposed to love them while they found their own way.
And maybe they fell. Maybe they shattered. Maybe they never came back from it.
Still, that was their road to walk.
We carry this guilt like a second skin, thinking we could’ve changed the outcome if only we had tried harder. But thetruth is, most people don’t expect you to catch them. They expect you to be there when they want to get up.
That’s the real kind of love.
Not the love that rearranges someone else’s path, but the love that waits at the end of it. Arms open. No judgment.
Let people fall. Let them choose. Let them live.
You are not responsible for the storms they chose to chase.
You are only responsible for the lighthouse that reminds them where home is.
And that is more than enough.
CHAPTER 40
Kyle
Lily: We need to talk. Call me when you see this.
Lily: It's urgent.
I waited patientlyfor the day to end, and just as Florence had instructed, I returned to her room to retrieve Oliver's phone. But she wasn't there when I arrived, nor was the phone anywhere on her desk. Apparently, she'd left and taken it with her. She was definitely smarter than I'd given her credit for.
Just as I was about to leave the room without any hope, I heard footsteps echoing down the hallway. I cracked open the door just enough to see Florence walking toward me with Oliver at her side, apparently with the same plan as me to retrieve his phone. I quickly retreated and hid in the supply closet. I had to stop Florence from giving Oliver the phone, but I also wanted to hear what excuse my friend would make to get it back and whether she would fall for his lies.
From inside the closet, I could see the entire room through a small gap between the doors. It was the perfect vantage point to observe them without being detected.
Miss Reynolds entered first and sat down at her desk, followed by my friend a few minutes later. He locked the door behind him and leaned casually against her desk, fidgeting with some pencils.
"I'm telling you, he doesn't know anything," Oliver said to Florence in a nonchalant tone.
Florence watched him play with the pencils, clearly impatient. "So why does he want your phone?"
"I think he wants a video I recorded of his girlfriend’s brother having sex with his best friend, so he can delete it. As if I'd be stupid enough to let him do that."
My heart sank. So there definitely was a video of Leo and Jeremy. Lily and I hadn't prevented anything. We'd just changed the location where it happened.
"And why do you have that video? Are you planning to hurt Leo the same way you're hurting me?" Florence's voice was almost broken. I never heard her like that. She was the strongest woman I ever met, or so I remembered her. Now that I'm older, I'm starting to see that adults aren't as unbreakable and cold as I used to think.
"Dear Flor, I've done everything to you except hurt you," Oliver replied with casual cruelty.
I was shocked to hear Oliver address our teacher with such disrespect and familiarity. I'd never heard him speak to any adult like that before.
She gripped his wrist tightly, stopping his fidgeting. "You're hurting me by threatening to spread a video, and you know it. If you wanted me to stay with you, that was the worst possible way to do it."
What the hell was she talking about?I tried to stay as still aspossible so they wouldn't detect my presence, but this conversation was making me increasingly uncomfortable.
He smiled at her, but it was one of those dark smiles that made your skin crawl. I wouldn't doubt that she was feeling like that right now. "So why did it work?"
"But I'm not with you out of love anymore, but because of the threats you're giving me," she said, her voice trembling slightly.
