Just like that.
No one stops him.
No one would be stupid enough to try.
The silence after he goes is monstrous.
I can’t breathe right.
Can’t see right.
The whole library feels too bright and too aware.
Stella is still sitting there.
Calm.
Collected.
All in.
I hate her with a force so clean it almost steadies me.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
I laugh once through my tears.
“No, you’re not.”
“Maybe I’m not,” she says quietly. “But I did save you from a wrecked, broken heart. He would never go all in on you—and you know it.”
That one lands so hard I nearly fold in half.
Because yes.
I do know it now.
I knew it every time he paused.
Every time another girl’s name changed his face.
Every time he gave me almost and I called it enough.
I grab my books too fast and one nearly slides off the table because I’m trying to leave before I actually collapse.
“I just needed more time,” I whisper, and I hate how small my voice sounds. “Now we both lost him.”
That gets her.
I can see it.
Good.
She looks almost stricken for one second.
I don’t care.
“Just go, Stella,” I say. “Leave me alone, okay?”
