The sun was about to set when Lina finished her classes. She was getting ready to go home… when she heard a familiar voice calling her name.
"Hey, Lina?" She turned around.
Noah.
Always with that warm smile. You know, the one that makes you feel like you're breathing lighter air.
"Are you going home? I can walk you if you want."
She hesitated.
Ethan didn't like that.
Actually… Ethan wasn't there. "Okay," she said softly. They walked side by side along the tree-lined path. Noah talked to her about this and that: his new job, the predicted rain, his studies… ordinary things.
With him, she felt light.
Unobserved.
Unanalyzed.
"Are you okay?" "Why are you?" Noah asked suddenly, looking at her with a slightly more serious expression than usual. "You seem… different lately," he added. At the last four words of his sentence, Lina…
"I'm just tired," she said with a faint smile.
Noah remained skeptical.
"If you need to talk, I'm here. Always." And before she could reply,
a black car screeched to a halt in front of her.
The window rolled down.
Ethan. His piercing gaze brushed against Noah with a sharp gesture. "Get in."
It wasn't a question or a request.
An order.
Lina felt her hands grow clammy.
"Ethan… I was just…"
He got out of the car, his face impassive but unsettlingly serene.
He looked at Noah.
"You can go home now."
Noah stepped back, surprised by the remark.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry." I was talking to her."
"I told her to leave."
Lina felt the tension rising inside her like a spark ready to explode.
"Ethan, stop, you're exaggerating," she said, placing her hand on his arm. He didn't even look at her. His gaze was fixed on Noah.
"Why are you walking with her?" he asked, enunciating each word slowly. Noah swallowed, trying to calm himself.
"Because we're friends, Ethan. That's all. Relax a little."
"Bad idea."
"Very bad idea." Ethan's gaze turned menacing.
"Friends, you want her, don't play innocent."
Lina stepped between them.
"Ethan, stop it!" "This is ridiculous, it's just Noah!" Ethan turned to her. He looked hurt… but also full of anger.
"So you're defending him? You're choosing him over me?"
"I'm not choosing anyone, Ethan!" she exclaimed.
Noah placed a soothing hand on her shoulder.
Ethan noticed.
And then, something broke.
He took a threatening step forward.
"Take your hand away. Now."
Noah raised his hands to the sky, calm but firm.
"Ethan, you need to calm down, okay? You can't decide for her who she sees or doesn't see."
Silence.
A heavy, suffocating silence.
Then Ethan replied in a cold voice:
"There, you're wrong." He took Lina's hand, the movement gentle but the gesture unmistakable.
"Let's go home."
"Ethan, you're hurting me!" "She protested. He let go of her immediately… but she was furious.
Yet, these feelings persisted, latent and gnawing away.
Before getting in, he cast one last glance at Noah.
A glance that clearly meant:
"She's mine." The door closed.
The car started.
As she climbed in, Lina felt her heart race.
"Listen, I don't want you to worry," he said, his jaw clenched.
"I want you to explain," he finally said.
"Explain what?" She turned her head, her eyes burning.
"What were you doing near him?"
"Why were you laughing?"
"Why did you seem happy with someone other than me?" He gripped the steering wheel tighter.
"You have no idea." "What I feel, Lina."
"The thought of other men looking at you the way I look at you is unbearable."
He breathed heavily, as if trying to calm himself.
"I'm going crazy."
"When it comes to you…" Lina said nothing.
She was suffocating.
Caught between fear… and this dangerous connection that drew her in despite everything, despite all her efforts to resist it.
Her relationship with Ethan had taken a new turn.
Darker.
More possessive.
More uncontrollable. And yet, this was only the beginning.