(Anthony's POV)
The hallway was silent when Steven walked away.
Not cold.
Not angry.
Just… determined.
I watched him cross the courtyard, stride steady, back straight, the air around him different from the boy I've known since we were old enough to hold toy trains.
And I didn't follow.
Not this time.
Because the moment he disappeared through the doors toward the parking lot—
I finally exhaled.
A long breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding since the moment Lara's voice cracked apart in the lab.
The echoes of that break still clung to my ears.
"You stole him!"
"You flirted with him behind my back!"
"Why wasn't I enough?"
Michelle's face — pale, stunned, trembling — rose before me.
Steven's — cold, sharp, protective in a way I'd never seen him.
Lara's — shattered.
And me?
I was standing in the middle, again.
Just like when we were kids.
--
Flashback — Returning to Physics Lab
