-Elara's POV
I wasn't supposed to see it.
I was just crossing the courtyard, dance bag heavy on my shoulder, mind replaying counts, steps and nervous about the competition that's when I noticed them—Alex and Freya—standing too close to be accidental.
I slow without meaning to.
Alex says something I can't hear. His hands are in his pockets, shoulders tense. He doesn't look like the confident football captain everyone knows. He looks… nervous.
Freya smiles.
Not polite.
Not surprised.
The kind of smile you give when your heart already knows the answer.
My chest tightens before my mind catches up.
She nods.
Alex's face breaks into relief, and for a moment, everything else disappears. They laugh softly, leaning toward each other like the world makes sense between them.
I blink, hard.
The tears come anyway.
I turn before they can see me, walking faster than I should, breath uneven. I tell myself I'm being ridiculous. I told myself I'd move on. I told myself I was fine.
Apparently, my heart didn't get the message.I stop near the studio steps, gripping the strap of my bag like it's the only thing keeping me upright. A tear slips free, then another.
"I'm so stupid," I whisper.
A shadow falls beside me.
I don't need to turn to know who it is.
Claudio.
He doesn't ask what happened. He doesn't ask if I'm okay. He just drapes his jacket gently over my shoulders, warm and familiar."It's okay," he says quietly, standing behind me.
That's it.
No questions. No explanations.
And somehow, that makes it worse—and better at the same time.
"I don't know why this hurts," I admit, voice shaking. "I thought I was over it."
Claudio steps closer, not touching me, but close enough that I can feel his presence.
"Feelings don't disappear just because we ask them to," he says.
I let out a broken laugh. "That sounds like something from a book."
He's silent for a moment. Then, softly, "Maybe."
I glance back once.
Alex and Freya are still there—smiling, unaware, happy.
I turn away again.
Claudio doesn't follow my gaze. He stays with me instead.And for the first time, I realize something small but important:
He didn't come to save me.
He came to stay.
-Claudio's POV
I see it before she knows I'm there.
The way her shoulders stiffen.
The way she turns too quickly, like she's running from something she can't name.
Elara doesn't cry loudly. She never has. Her pain is the kind that folds inward, contained, careful. That makes it worse.
I don't ask questions.
I step behind her and place my jacket around her shoulders, slow and deliberate, like she might shatter if I move too fast.
"It's okay," I say.
Her breath breaks.
"I don't even know why this hurts," she whispers.
I do.
But I don't say it.Because saying it would mean admitting what I've been hiding from myself too.
I stand there, close enough to shield her from the world, from curious eyes, from the version of happiness happening a few steps away from us.
I glance once—just once.
Alex is smiling. Freya is smiling back.
They look right together.
And for the first time, that doesn't make me angry.
It makes me certain.
Elara deserves someone who stays when it hurts.
Someone who doesn't ask her to explain her tears. Someone who knows silence can be a language.
I clench my hands at my sides, grounding myself.
I won't take her pain away.But I can stand between her and everything that caused it.
I can protect this moment.
Protect her softness.
Protect the way she feels too deeply.
She doesn't lean into me.
Not yet.
But she doesn't step away either.
And that's enough.
For now.