The V-tuber Who Became Obsessed With Me Chapter 45: What follows

( Raina’s pov)

I got ho smiling.

Ethan got the promotion.

Not only that, Zach actually kept his word.

A small part of had expected him to tease for days before doing it, just to annoy . But no. One call from Parallex HQ and Ethan’s entire life had changed overnight.

I leaned against the kitchen counter and took my phone out.

I should thank him.

The line rang once before Zach picked up.

"Hello, Himari."

I rolled my eyes imdiately.

"It’s Raina now, Zach."

"Yeah, right. Raina." I could practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Sorry, I kinda liked Himari better. It’s sweet on the tongue."

"Zach."

He laughed softly.

"Fine, fine. What’s up?"

"I just wanted to thank you for getting Ethan promoted."

A pause.

"Who?"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Ethan. My boyfriend."

"Ohhh. The boyfriend." His tone was dripping with fake realization. "Sorry. Slipped my mind."

Motherfucker.

Was he trying to provoke ?

"Anyway," I continued before he could start anything else, "thank you. Seriously. I owe you one."

"Well," he said lightly, "rember that in the future."

"I will."

The call ended.

I dropped my phone onto the couch and let out a small breath.

Seeing Ethan happy tonight had felt...

Nice.

The excitent in his voice earlier when he called ... the way his eyes lit up at dinner... the way he looked at when he introduced to his friends.

I smiled without realizing it.

The dinner itself had gone surprisingly well.

Only one problem though.

Marcus.

I had not been in the sa room with him since college.

What if he recognized ?

I imdiately shook the thought away.

No.

He couldn’t.

I had changed too much since then. Different hair. Different posture. Different makeup. Different clothes. Different confidence.

Back then I had still been trying to beco soone else.

Now?

Now I had perfected it....

Still...

My smile slowly faded.

And before I realized it, my thoughts drifted backward.

Back to after Felix died.

Back to the silence that followed.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

The apartnt had been dark for days.

Not taphorically.

Literally dark.

The curtains stayed closed. The lights stayed off. Half-empty bottles of water sat around the room untouched. Clothes were scattered across the floor. The air itself felt stale, heavy, trapped.

I barely moved.

Barely slept.

Barely ate.

Most of the ti I sat in the corner of my bedroom with my knees pulled to my chest, staring at nothing while my thoughts ate themselves alive.

Felix was dead.

And every single ti I tried not to think about it, I heard the sound again.

That horrible sound.

The snow globe against his skull.

My stomach twisted violently.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

No.

Don’t think about it.

Don’t think about him lying there.

Don’t think about the blood.

Don’t—

Knock knock knock.

I jerked violently at the sudden sound.

Another knock followed imdiately.

"Himari!"

Susan.

"Open up! It’s Susan!"

I stayed silent.

Maybe she would leave.

Knock knockknock.

"I know you’re in there!"

I buried my face into my hands.

God.

She was persistent.

And Susan had this annoying habit of never stopping once she got worried about soone.

Another knock.

Another.

Another.

Ugh!

She wasn’t going away unless I opened the door.

Slowly, I pushed myself up and walked toward the entrance.

The mont I opened it, Susan froze.

"Oh my God," she said. "What happened to you?"

I blinked at her tiredly.

"You look like shit."

"It’s nice seeing you too," I replied dryly.

She ignored the sarcasm and walked straight inside.

Then imdiately gagged.

"Woah." She looked around horrified. "Your apartnt looks worse than you do."

I said nothing.

Susan walked to the nearest window.

"Let’s get so ventilation in here."

"Susan, don’t—"

Too late.

The curtains flew open.

Sunlight poured into the apartnt so suddenly that pain shot through my eyes.

I raised my arm imdiately to shield them, turning away instinctively.

Ahhh!

I really had not seen sunlight in days.

Susan moved around the apartnt opening more curtains, more windows.

Fresh air slowly drifted inside.

"What happened here?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing."

"Himari."

"Nothing happened."

She turned fully toward this ti.

"This isn’t nothing." Her voice softened. "You haven’t co to school in days. You stopped answering texts. I’ve been worried sick."

I looked away.

"Well don’t be."

"Himari—"

"I just needed ti to myself."

She stared at carefully.

Then her expression softened even more.

"What happened?"

There it was.

The problem with Susan.

She cared too much.

And she would keep pushing until she got an answer.

A believable answer.

My mind worked quickly.

Sooner or later people were going to ask questions about Felix.

Sooner or later suspicion would start sowhere.

And if I played this correctly...

I could move that suspicion sowhere else for now.

I lowered my head.

Then forced my voice to crack.

"Felix dumped ."

Susan’s eyes widened imdiately.

"What?"

I covered my face with my hands and forced out a shaky breath.

"He said..." I swallowed hard. "He said he felt trapped here. That college was suffocating him." I let my voice tremble slightly. "He wanted to leave Harrington for a while. Said he needed space to figure himself out."

Susan looked genuinely heartbroken for .

"That asshole."

I should have felt relieved inside that it was working .

Instead I started crying.

Real tears too.

Not entirely fake.

Because sowhere beneath the manipulation and planning and fear...

A part of was really mourning Felix and the version of myself that existed before that night.

Susan wrapped her arms around imdiately.

"Oh Himari..." she whispered. "I’m so sorry."

I cried into her shoulder while my mind remained cold and alert underneath it all.

Because while she comforted ...

I slipped Felix’s phone into the side pocket of her bag.

The phone had been powered off since the night he died.

I had taken it from his body before Tengu arrived.

At first I planned to destroy it.

But then I realized sothing smarter.

If suspicion ever landed near , evidence needed sowhere else to point.

Not enough to fully fra Susan.

Never that obvious.

Just enough to create confusion.

Enough for investigators to question tilines.

Question stories.

Question people besides .

And God help ...

A part of resented Susan anyway.

Because if she had never gotten involved with Ethan...

If Ethan had never looked at her that way back then...

If I had never gotten jealous...

Maybe I would never have dated Felix just to distract myself.

Maybe none of this would have happened.

That darkness inside had already started growing back then.

I just didn’t understand it yet.

Susan stayed almost the entire day.

She helped clean the apartnt.

Forced to shower.

Forced to eat.

And all the while guilt kept clawing at from the inside because she truly believed she was helping .

Eventually I returned to college.

Acted normal.

Smiled when I had to.

Answered questions carefully.

But I never moved back into the dorm.

I told Susan commuting from my apartnt helped clear my head and thankfully she accepted the excuse without pushing further.

Three weeks passed.

Then one afternoon there was another knock at my apartnt door.

I opened it expecting Susan again.

Instead I saw Ethan.

And beside him—

Malcolm.

The sight of him imdiately tightened sothing inside my chest.

"Ethan," I said carefully. "What a surprise."

"Hey Himari." He smiled weakly. "Sorry for showing up unannounced."

Then he gestured toward the man beside him.

"This is Malcolm."

Malcolm stepped forward.

"Hi," he said. "I’m Felix’s brother."

And there it was.

The mont I had been preparing for.

I widened my eyes slightly.

"Oh. Yeah... Felix talked about you before."

"You mind if we co in?" Ethan asked.

"Of course."

The three of us stepped inside.

Malcolm looked terrible.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

His eyes kept moving around the room anxiously like he expected Felix to suddenly walk out from sowhere.

"I’ll get straight to the point," he said finally. "I’m trying to find my brother."

I forced confusion onto my face.

"What do you an?"

"He’s missing."

I blinked slowly.

"Missing?"

"He stopped answering calls weeks ago," Malcolm explained. "Nobody’s heard from him."

I carefully lowered my gaze.

"That’s impossible."

"What?"

"Felix broke up with weeks ago." I shook my head slightly. "He said he wanted to leave Harrington for a while and clear his head."

Malcolm stared at .

"He told you where he was going?"

"No." I let frustration enter my voice naturally. "I’ve been trying to call him too. He stopped answering completely."

That part at least was true.

I had continued texting his phone almost daily after his death.

A precaution.

If police ever checked phone records, it would support the idea that I believed he was still alive too.

Malcolm’s composure started cracking right in front of us.

Fear slowly replaced denial.

"And he never ntioned anything else?" he asked quietly.

I shook my head.

"Nothing."

"You should go to the police," Ethan told him carefully.

Malcolm nodded slowly.

"Yeah..." His voice sounded distant now. "Yeah, I think I will."

"I’ll co with you," Ethan said imdiately.

Part of hated him for that.

Because even back then Ethan was good.

Too good.

Always helping people.

Always trying to save everyone.

I stepped forward slightly.

"I can co too if you need support."

"No," Ethan said gently. "It’s okay. Stay here."

I nodded slowly.

"Alright."

Malcolm looked exhausted.

"Thank you for your ti," he said quietly before heading toward the door.

I smiled softly.

"I hope you find him."

And God...

The scariest part?

For a second I almost sounded sincere.