"Nyr?"
At the sound of his na, Nyr, and every person at his table, turned to face the speaker. It was a strikingly beautiful young woman, not much older than the rest of them, with a poise that turned heads. A group of people followed her. There were about ten of them in total, laughing and chatting as they approached, dressed in vibrant, expensive-looking clothing. Many had an effortless charm and confidence, the kind that made them look more like models than casual friends out for a hangout.
Ephera, seated beside Nyr, glanced at him curiously, noticing how his expression had shifted into sothing stiff and unreadable. "You know her, Nyr?"
11
But Nyr didn't answer. Instead, his face betrayed a flicker of incredulity, as though he were struggling to accept the situation unfolding in front of him.
'Are you kidding ?'
The possibility of running into old classmates had always lingered at the back of his mind, but he hadn't expected it to happen tonight, nor in such an elaborate fashion. He looked over the newcors again, his mind going through nas he hadn't thought of in years.
'Sharon, Felix, Jeanne, Curtis...'
He counted them off, squinting just to be sure. And there they were-his forr classmates. Two of them he knew from middle school, the other two from high school. While he vaguely recognized a few faces in the group behind them, they faded into insignificance beside these four.
"N-Nyrel?" Felix was shocked.
"No way!" Sharon's friends whispered among themselves, her shock reflected in their wide- eyed glances. "Is it really that Nyr? He looks so... different!"
Curtis arched an eyebrow. "Wait... you know this guy?" He asked, looking mildly amused.
Sharon turned toward Curtis. "Huh? You know him too?"
"Yeah," Curtis replied, a small smirk playing on his lips as his gaze flicked to Jeanne. "We went to high school together. Right, Jeanne?"
"..." Jeanne didn't answer looking at Nyr.
"Well, he was our classmate back in middle school," Sharon added sowhat reluctant to speak. It was as if she were seeing a completely different person. In her mory, Nyr had been quiet, almost invisible, with slouched shoulders and unremarkable clothes. He was withdrawn, distant, wearing thick glasses that hid his eyes. She rembered the way he had silently accepted being overlooked, sotis even mistreated-isolated yet always strangely resigned.
But Sharon was smart and saw beyond that facade he put in. Upon understanding who he truly was, she soon started falling for him almost magically but what happened after...
Sharon clenched her fists.
Tonight, there was nothing submissive or ek about him.
But the Nyr standing before her now was nothing like the boy she rembered. He had matured in all the right ways, his sharp jawline and straight gaze transforming him into soone genuinely handso. The ekness, the tendency to shrink back-none of it was present anymore.
Sharon couldn't help but feel a pang of regret reminiscing. There had been rare monts in middle school when she had glimpsed hints of Nyr's true self. She had once yearned to see more of that side of him, but life had pulled them in different directions, worsened by her own actions and the distance they created.
It was equally shocking for Felix, Curtis, and Jeanne. For Curtis and Jeanne especially, who had seen him only three years prior, the transformation was almost shocking. If Sharon hadn't called him out, they would've brushed him off as a stranger.
The credit belonged mostly to Ephera, who had pushed Nyr out of his shadowed corner, insisting that he shed his gloomy outlook and stop caring about how others saw him. She'd even urged him to change his style, ditching the nondescript clothing for sothing that highlighted his features.
"Whoa, talk about a crazy coincidence," one of Sharon's friends said, laughing as she looked around the group. "I didn't know we'd all end up in the sa college. And Nyr...who knew he'd turn out to be this much of a hottie?"
The group, a lively, extroverted bunch, didn't filter their words as they exchanged surprised murmurs and laughs.
"Right?! Hey, Sharon, introduce already!" One of the girls nudged her friend playfully. Sharon gave a tight, awkward smile, clearly caught off guard by her friends' interest.
Curtis suddenly snickered. "Whoa there, girls, don't get carried away," he said, wagging a finger. "He might look different now, but don't be fooled. Back in high school, he was a different guy entirely. In fact, he had a massive crush on Jeanne-"
-Thud!
Curtis's words were cut short as Nyr suddenly stood, the force of his chair against the ground silencing the chatter at the table. The room seed to hold its breath as Nyr's gaze swept over them all. It wasn't embarrassnt that had caused him to react-he no longer felt tethered to his past.
He looked at Felix, then shifted his attention to Emric and Yanis, two of his closest friends who had stood by him during these last years and didn't betray him at last.
Felix averted his gaze under Nyr's penetrating green eyes.
Then Nyr's gaze lingered on Jeanne, who hadn't said a word so far, her expression unreadable. Finally, he turned to Ephera, who was a bit concerned.
He had everything he needed now. Friends who saw him for who he was, perhaps even a soon- to-be girlfriend in Ephera. His past, once filled with painful mories, no longer mattered. High school and middle school, didn't matter anymore. He didn't need to look back-except perhaps for one regretful thought of Naomi, the girl he had hurt in his childhood.
But that, too, was only a distant mory.
"What?" Curtis tried again, letting out a scoffing laugh. "Are you running away now, Nyr? Thought you'd changed, but I guess so things never do."
"Oi."
The dismissive drawl ca from a brown-skinned man lounging at the table with an air of utter indifference. Yanis, his shirt unbuttoned just enough to reveal a hint of his tattoos, gave Curtis a look of disdain.
"Can you shut the hell up?" Yanis said.
Curtis's eyebrows arched as he turned to face him. "... What did you just say?"
"You heard , Flash Thompson," Yanis replied, his eyes narrowing.
A few soft snickers rang out, barely stifled by Marlene and Gladys, while Shayna and Lucy quickly turned their faces, hiding the amused smiles tugging at their lips. The nickna hit its mark perfectly. Curtis's face flushed red as he heard a few of his own friends stifling laughs. "Are you here to eat or just to embarrass yourselves?" Emric added with an unimpressed glance, shooing them away with his hand. "Didn't know Nyr's old classmates were weirdos." Curtis, however, only chuckled in response, refusing to back down. "Wow, Nyr, hiding behind your new 'friends' now?" Hee taunted, his gaze zeroing in on Nyr with a smirk. "It's cute that you've made so, but I hope you've at least been honest with them about who you really
are."
Nyr's eyes narrowed as he turned back toward Curtis. He closed the distance between them, standing just a foot away, and suddenly Curtis felt the need to square his shoulders. This wasn't the Nyr he rembered, a taller, more imposing presence lood before him.
That was the Nyr Ephera had brought and shaped how he was truly supposed to be.
"Told them what, Curtis?" Nyr asked.
Curtis, managing to collect himself, sneered. "About how you stalked Jeanne. We found your phone back then, rember? Checked it ourselves and saw everything-"
Curtis's voice faltered as he caught the faint smile on Nyr's face. It wasn't the smile of
soone embarrassed or flustered; it was one of quiet disdain.
"Still clinging to that story, huh?" Nyr said, raising an eyebrow. "It's been three years, Curtis.
And you still haven't let it go?"
Curtis's sneer faded as he processed the change in Nyr's tone.
"Well, if you're so set on that little lie, sure. Let's say I stalked Jeanne. Now, what are you
planning to do about it?" Nyr asked, hands in his pockets, almost amused, as he took a step
closer, bringing them inches apart.
Curtis's smirk evaporated as he involuntarily stepped back. For a mont, the tables around
them fell silent, all eyes turning toward Nyr.
"What are you going to do, Curtis?" Nyr repeated, pushing lightly against Curtis's chest with two fingers, watching as the other man instinctively staggered back. Curtis's face went blank for a mont wondering if it was truly Nyr in front of him.
"Go to the police, maybe? Or keep feeding Jeanne these sa old stories?" Nyr's voice dropped, cold and unimpressed, as he glanced briefly at Jeanne, who remained quiet. "Feels like nothing's changed on your end in the past three years. But as you can see-" his gaze returned to Curtis with a bored expression. "I have no reason to care about your gas
anymore."
"You bastard!" Curtis's fist shot forward, but Nyr moved swiftly, tilting his head aside, letting the punch glide past. Before Curtis could regain his balance, Nyr shoved him back,
hard, right in the chest.
-Thud!
Curtis went crashing into the table behind him, sprawling over plates and drinks, food tumbling onto his lap. A hush fell over the room, broken only by the clinking of glass and the shuffling of chairs as others around them shifted back in surprise.
"H-Hey, Nyr, co on, man," Felix stepped in, trying to reach out, his hand hovering to pat Nyr's chest. But Nyr's gaze was cold, and his hand ca up to slap Felix's away before it even
landed.
"Don't touch ," Nyr's voice was chillingly cold making Felix flinch.
"Hey!" Sharon snapped angrily as she stepped forward.
Nyr turned to her and it silenced her imdiately.
With a final contemptuous glance down at Curtis, who was seething as he tried to pull himself
up, Nyr reached for his coat and bag. Without another word, he turned and strode toward the
door.
"Nyr!" Ephera called, following him. She shot a final glance at the group that had caused the scene, her usually soft blue eyes darkened. "Don't ever co near him again. Any of you."
"Tch. Ca here to eat, and this is what we get?" Yanis stood up, scoffing, his annoyance visible as he threw a hard look at Curtis and his friends. But the fact that he, too, left as soon as Nyr did spoke volus about where his annoyance was directed to.
One by one, the others got up to leave, their expressions cold. Gladys, pausing for a mont
as she passed, cast a final look at Curtis. He sat with his head lowered, shoulders tense and fists clenched, though it seed more in sha than anger. Her brows furrowed briefly before she, too, turned away, leaving him surrounded by the silence of his own humiliation.
...
"Nyr!" Ephera called out as he left the restaurant, tugging on his coat against the chill in the evening air. Her voice caught him mid-step, but he didn't turn around.
His mood was really dark.
Curtis's presence was like a bruise from his past that had been struck again, raw and fresh. Of
all the people he despised, Curtis and Leon Grimlock sat at the top. Jayce, by comparison, seed almost harmless. Curtis, however, had made his high school years a waking hell. Only Chloe had kept him steady through those tis.
"Nyr!" Ephera hurried toward him, catching hold of his sleeve. The gentle but insistent pull
made him stop in his tracks.
"I'm heading ho," he said.
"Look at !"
"No."
"Yes, you will." Ephera's grip tightened as she gave his arm a firm tug, forcing him to face
her.
Nyr's expression, when he finally turned, silenced her. His usual annoyance was there, but a
flicker of weariness softened the edge. His gaze was distant, tinged with irritation and
resignation.
She could sense his doubt, the way he seed to wonder if he could ever truly leave his past behind. Today, Curtis had resurfaced like a specter from that difficult ti, reminding him of years filled with quiet suffering. And what if others returned as well?
He had enough of that.
He just wanted to turn a new leaf in his life.
Ephera's blue eyes softened as she lifted her hand, her fingers cool against his cheeks as she
cupped his face, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"I don't care about what happened, or what will happen because of your past," she said softly.
||||
"All that matters to ," Ephera continued, a warm smile spreading across her breathtaking
face, "is who you are becoming, Nyr. And what I see is the strongest, most amazing man in the universe."
"You have a way with words," Nyr smiled a little, his gaze dropping as he looked down at her. It was a smile he would rarely show to anyone.
Ephera tilted her head with a playful glint in her eye, letting her black hair cascade over her
shoulder. "I know," she nodded with a small smile. "And that's exactly why I'll make sure you're the happiest man in the world."
Nyr scoffed a little averting his gaze from her.
"If this is just another ploy to satisfy your father's twisted ambitions, then I'm rejecting you
right here and now."
Ephera giggled softly looking up at him.
"Is it?"
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