Sticky beads of sweat slowly seeped from his back, palms, and forehead. Whatever strength Noah Miller had left in his body was being drained away little by little. He straightened up, breathing hard, and looked back at the long stretch of path they had cleared.
They were nearly at the end. Today's workload finished up ahead of them, so they were finally close to wrapping up. The closer they got to finishing, the more impatient he became to be done.
Unfortunately, his body couldn't keep up with his thoughts. He had no energy left to give.
Noah turned to tell Lila Vale to take another break with him. The girl was petite and slender—she had clearly been pushing herself hard to keep up, her back barely able to stay straight.
Just as he opened his mouth to call her, a boy suddenly jogged over and stopped right in front of her, holding a bottle of milk.
The boy had decent looks and was dressed stylishly. He stood tall before Lila with a gentle, eager smile that seemed genuinely sincere.
He was speaking to her earnestly, but she wasn't really paying attention. Her eyes kept drifting in Noah's direction. Curious, Noah dragged his shovel closer and finally caught what the boy was saying.
"Do we really need to shovel the rest of this section? Let me help you. You can sit on the side and rest. Look at all that sweat—you'll catch a cold easily..."
Noah remembered Miles acting the exact same way when he was trying to win over Maya—patient and sincere. This guy was even more obvious about it.
It had been some time since he and Lila broke up. The news had probably spread everywhere by now.
With a girl like Lila, there was never a shortage of guys interested in her. Now that the position was open, plenty of them clearly wanted to try their luck.
But Lila's face stayed calm and indifferent. She barely glanced at him, her attention elsewhere, showing zero interest in accepting the milk he was offering.
"Lila?" The boy noticed she wasn't listening and called her name directly.
"Hm? What?" She snapped back to the present, looking at his face with a slight frown.
She had intended to be polite. She usually turned down suitors cleanly and gracefully, without being harsh.
She was waiting for him to finish so she could gently discourage him. But the casual way he called her by name felt too familiar.
This boy was also part of the student council. She had seen him around a few times and had been grouped with him during one event, but they weren't really acquainted.
Not far away, a few other guys were secretly watching, probably his friends there for moral support, whispering among themselves.
"You should go rest. I'll finish the rest for you." He reached out to take the shovel from her hands, but Lila stepped back, keeping it away from him.
"No thanks. I can handle it myself. Did you need something?"
"Uh... Here, take this milk. It'll help warm you up."
"No." Lila's refusal was firm. "I don't like accepting things from people, and I don't drink milk."
"I'll get you something else next time. I just wanted to thank you for helping me out during the last event..."
That only annoyed her more. During the previous activity, he hadn't finished his assigned tasks on time and had slowed down the whole group. She and a couple of the other girls had been forced to pick up his slack.
They had barely met the deadline, so no one had said anything, but the fact that he brought it up himself made her even more irritated.
Lila shot him a cold glare, harsh words already rising to her lips, when she suddenly felt her hand being gently grasped. Noah's warm voice sounded close to her ear. "Let's go sit for a bit. We can finish the rest later."
She turned to look at Noah—his forehead damp with sweat—and a smile gradually formed on her lips. "Okay, let's go."
They ignored the boy completely and walked over to the folding stools, dragging their shovels. He stood there awkwardly scratching his head before finally getting the hint and heading back to his friends.
"Thanks. I was seriously about to snap at him."
"No big deal. Happy to help with something like that." Noah wiped the sweat from his face. "Does he bother you a lot?"
"Not really. This is the first time he's been this pushy. It's pretty annoying."
"Got it... If he tries again, I can step in."
"Mm..." Lila stared out at the vast white landscape. Clumps of snow occasionally slid off tree branches and shattered on the ground below.
Her eyelashes fluttered as she let out a soft breath. "Thank you."
Back when they were still together, annoying guys like that wouldn't have dared approach. Their breakup had opened the door for others. She could keep these presumptuous outsiders at bay and wait for a chance to rekindle things. But Noah... could he really refuse Evelyn...
She couldn't help recalling the words Noah had written in that letter to a stranger. Some close family member had intense possessive and controlling tendencies toward him, affecting his daily life and leaving him stuck with no way out. Who else could it be?
Evelyn... She didn't have much confidence she could beat her. From childhood until now, the only time Lila had ever seen Evelyn lose was when their parents had approved of her relationship with Noah. That had been Evelyn's one and only defeat.
They rested a little longer, then finished the final stretch once their energy returned. After returning the folding stools and shovels, they were done.
Lila had wanted to invite Noah to grab lunch together, but when she turned around, she only caught sight of his back as he walked away toward the faculty housing building.
...
Another page turned. Rows of dense text filled her vision until her eyes began to sting. Evelyn Miller closed the book and lifted her gaze to the window.
The sky was a dull gray, sunlight completely blocked by thick clouds. Today was another cold, desolate day. Everything looked withered and lifeless, with no hint of brightness anywhere.
The last trace of life in the apartment had slipped away early that morning, leaving behind dead silence—quiet, cold, and empty. It made her regret letting him go more than she cared to admit.
She should have been stricter earlier. If she hadn't allowed the boy to leave, Nate would probably still be curled up asleep on her lap right now instead of her sitting here alone like some empty-nester.
The frost and condensation on the window had thickened again. The smiling face she had drawn earlier was now completely blurred and shapeless. The view outside had turned hazy and indistinct.
When Nate was little, he had always been so lively and active. During winter, he loved running outside to play in the snow with his friends. She would stay indoors, finish all the housework, then sit by the window with a book, waiting for her little brother to tire himself out and come home for dinner.
One time he had come back covered head to toe in snow. His head was lowered, hair a complete mess, face streaked with dirt. He looked utterly miserable, like a small animal that had been chased by a predator for miles.
He admitted he had gotten into a fight with another boy. The kid had pointed at his eyebrow and called him a child whose parents didn't want him. Nate had clenched his fists, holding back because he didn't want to cause trouble for his sister. But then the boy went further, saying his sister was even worse—she had no real parents either and had just been picked up by his family.
That's when Nate had snapped. He charged at the older, taller boy with everything he had, fighting like his life depended on it, and somehow managed to win.