The mont she fell, Mia’s vision went black.
Her upper body was sprawled across him, her cheek pressed to his chest, where she could hear his deafening heartbeat.
Felix propped himself up slightly, and from his vantage point...
The girl was lying on top of him. The loose shirt she wore covered her skin, but as she moved, the hem rode up, revealing her bare legs underneath.
He took only a single glance before frantically looking away. His gaze landed on her face. Her hair was a ss, her eyes were half-closed with her brow slightly furrowed, and her delicate pink lips were parted. Her hot breath washed over his chest as her lips moved...
Felix quickly turned his head away. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he could burn a hole through the heavy gray curtains and stare into the swirling vortex of the night.
"You should... get up."
Mia’s nose had just slamd into his chest, and the pain brought tears to her eyes.
She sat up, rubbing her nose. "If you wanted to say sothing, you could have just said it. Why did you have to pull ?"
Felix kept his gaze fixed on the curtains, not daring to turn and look at her.
"What were you doing just now?"
Mia stopped rubbing her nose. "I, uh, wanted to check the ti?"
"I thought you didn’t take your watch off."
"..."
’Even she had to laugh at her own excuse.’
Felix turned his head.
eting his scrutinizing gaze, Mia put a hand to her forehead. ’I’m done for.’
After a long silence, Mia decided to throw caution to the wind. "Right before I fell asleep, I thought I saw a wound on your wrist. I just wanted to see what happened."
"Did you scratch it by accident? Or is it a burn?"
She kept probing.
Pressing him, step by step.
"Can I see it?"
The boy’s eyes were still red, but not from the flash of pale skin he had just seen. This ti, it was because of her words.
The girl knelt beside him. Her oversized shirt was buttoned all the way to the top, and its long sleeves hid her hands.
She seed to have realized sothing. Her expression was cautious, yet tinged with a hint of curiosity.
Perhaps there were other emotions as well, but they were too complex. In the dim light, he couldn’t see them clearly, nor did he dare try to decipher them.
After speaking, Mia waited nervously for his reply. She twisted the fabric of her sleeves, swallowing again and again.
In the end, the proud, spirited boy who never showed weakness to anyone couldn’t withstand her clear, limpid gaze. He was defeated once again.
In this ga between them, he had never won.
Felix sat up. He lowered his head, took her hand, and gently pulled it free from the long sleeve.
With both hands, he carefully began to roll up her sleeve.
He did everything with intense focus. Even a simple task like rolling up a sleeve seed, in his hands, like solving the final, most difficult problem on a math exam.
It was as if each fold’s angle and width had been rigorously calculated, perfectly even and smooth.
Only when he was finished did he lower his hands.
A few seconds later, the hand resting on his lap lifted again. This ti, he began to roll up his own sleeve.
Mia’s eyes widened slightly, terrified of missing a single detail.
The boy moved slowly, but a closer look revealed he wasn’t being nearly as ticulous as before. He folded the sleeve almost carelessly, his little finger trembling uncontrollably.
Once his sleeve was rolled up, he sat motionless for a mont. He glanced up at her, then quickly looked down again.
"It’s okay," Mia said, grabbing his hand.
Felix suddenly tightened his grip, holding her hand forcefully in return, as if trying to stop her from escaping.
’She’ll definitely run away when she sees it.’
He had braced himself for this, again and again.
Finally, as if marching to his own execution, he held her hand and slowly turned his wrist, exposing the horrifying patch of skin to them both.
The instant she saw it, Mia wanted to scream.
Not from fear, but from confusion and worry.
But she dug the fingers of her free hand into her thigh, forcing herself to swallow the shrill, jarring scream.
She couldn’t react. Even without looking at each other, she knew Felix was watching for her reaction.
They were so close that the sound of each other’s breathing felt like an intrusion.
But just a mont ago, she’d noticed his breathing had stopped.
He was holding his breath, cautiously using every one of his senses to gauge her reaction.
"Can we turn on a light? I can’t see very well," she suggested.
The light was too dim. She could see the deepest scar, but she couldn’t be sure about the others.
She turned, reaching for the lamp on the nightstand.
The next second, she was pulled into a searing-hot embrace.
Mia gasped, lost her balance, and fell straight back onto her pillow.
The force behind her didn’t let up, pressing tightly against her spine.
The boy’s wild heartbeat seed to give her own fluttering shoulder blades strength.
His breathing was ragged, his heart raced, and he struggled to control his trembling body.
She was the sa; her shoulder blades kept twitching.
"Don’t turn on the light."
The boy’s voice was hoarse, stripped of its usual calm. It was almost a plea.
For so reason, Mia felt a pang in her heart.
The boy held her from behind, his scarred hands wrapped around her waist.
She murmured her assent. Lowering her head, she took his hand.
Felix’s body tensed. Then he felt the pad of her finger tracing the edge of his scar.
Though he couldn’t see her, he guessed her touch was just like her gaze had been—full of tenderness and sorrow.
It was a caress, not a touch of disgust or morbid curiosity.
Her touch, like her eyes, held feeling.
Even though she was holding back, he could still feel it. Her heart... ached for him.
At this realization, the fortress Felix had built around his heart instantly crumbled.
Amidst the ruins, he curled into himself wretchedly, hugging her tighter, lacing their fingers together.
A strange illusion took hold of him.
’Even if the world ended right now, I wouldn’t care.’
’I just want to be with her.’
’If the world turns upside down in the next instant, I’ll still hold her hand for dear life.’
’Even if I were the only one who could save the world... ’
’None of it would matter.’
’Morality, rules, etiquette—none of it matters anymore.’
’Let’s sink. Let’s fall. Let’s plunge into the abyss together.’
’I have to. I must. I’ll stay tangled with her until the very last mont of my life.’
Mia’s heart ached for him, yet she couldn’t understand why he would do such a thing.
"Why?" At this point, it felt like no question was off-limits.
She traced the scars, feeling the healed wounds and the raised, scabbed ridges, and sighed silently.
’The young master of the Sinclair family... his parents are happily in love, he’s a top student... a true golden boy...’
’Even my own worthless life has held on this long. What could possibly drive him to this?’
"What on earth happened?"
"Did Ian bully you?"
’No, that can’t be it.’
’That puppy likes to bite, but not just anyone.’
Silence from behind her.
Mia kept guessing, but he remained silent.
She paused. Then, an absurd idea suddenly struck her.
’If it wasn’t his family, or a setback at school, and he wasn’t being bullied or cyberbullied... then there was only one other thing it could be... romance.’
Mia’s breath caught in her throat.
"You... You didn’t do this... because of , did you?"
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