Forgotten Luna: I'm Done Playing the Substitute

Chapter 5

Isabella

William opened the car door for me, his hand already reaching out.

“Careful,” he said quietly. “Let me…”

“I’ve got it.” I cut him off again, and his hand stilled in the air.

For a brief second, something unreadable flickered across his face, but I didn’t wait to see what it was. I shifted my weight, gripping my cane, and eased myself into the seat on my own.

The movement sent a dull ache through my leg, but I welcomed it. It was easier to focus on that than everything else.

Once I was settled, I pulled the door closer, not quite slamming it, but not gentle either.

William stood outside for a moment, like he wanted to say something, but in the end… he said nothing. He simply closed the door the rest of the way and stepped back.

“Get home safely,” he said.

I nodded faintly, not trusting myself to speak. The car pulled away, but I didn’t look back.

The city blurred past the window, shapes and colors melting into one another, but I barely saw any of it, because my mind had already gone somewhere else.

My eyes slowly fluttered shut, and I remembered the first time I saw him.

It had been during a battle drill. There was dust in the air, voices shouting and the sharp clash of movement and instinct all around us, but somehow, he caught my attention.

He moved like he belonged here, and there had been something almost graceful about it. I had stood there, watching longer than I should have, my heart doing something unfamiliar in my chest.

“Who is that?” I had asked the girl beside me.

“Exchange student from the Southern Territory.” She had glanced over and shrugged. “He’s only here for a year.”

A year.

At the time, it had felt like more than enough, more than enough to watch him and do fall in love.

I let out a quiet breath, my fingers tightening slightly against my lap.

I had fallen for him far too quickly and if someone had told me then that I was going to regret it, I should have laughed in their faces.

He never knew who I really was back then. To him, I had just been another student and maybe that had been why I had stayed close. Why I had laughed a little easier, spoken a little softer, tried a little harder, because for once I wasn’t someone people expected things from.

When his time ended he left, just like that. He didn't give any promises and there was no looking back. I remembered standing there, watching him go, something tight and unbearable sitting in my chest.

“You’ll forget him,” my father had said firmly when I brought him up. “It was nothing.”

Nothing. Maybe it should have been, but it wasn’t, because I didn’t forget. I couldn’t.

So I made a decision, a reckless one and foolish one.

“I’m going,” I had told him.

“What?” My father’s expression had hardened instantly. “No.”

“I have to.”

“You have responsibilities here.”

“I know,” I had said, my voice quieter but no less certain. “But I…”

“You’re not leaving everything behind for a boy you barely know.”

“I know him,” I had met his gaze then, something stubborn rising in my chest. I insisted. “I just haven’t had enough time.”

“That’s not a reason.”

“It is for me.”

The silence that followed had been heavy and disappointing, but it didn't change my mind.

“If you walk out of here for this,” he had said coldly, “you don’t come back expecting things to be the same.”

“I understand.” I would never forget the shock in father's eyes, and then I left.

As quickly as I could,I made my way to The Red Moon Tribe, but I was met with a bigger shock than I expected.

William was no longer the same boy I remembered. He has been broken, and distant, with a shadow in his eyes I didn’t understand at first.

Until I heard her name.

Elisa.

She had left, and he had been left behind. I remembered the first time I approached him there.

“You shouldn’t skip meals,” I had said, placing food down in front of him.

“No thanks.” He hadn’t even looked at me. “I’m not hungry.”

“You haven’t eaten all day.”

“That’s not your concern.”

“It is if I’m the one standing here,” I had replied, refusing to move.

That had been the beginning. He didn't go r me a warm welcome or embrace, but I stayed,day after day, through his silence and his indifference.

“You’re persistent,” he had said once, glancing at me briefly.

“Is that a bad thing?” I had asked.

“…It’s unnecessary.”

I had smiled anyway. “I don’t think so.”

Slowly, painfully slowly, things changed. He started responding, then talking and letting me stay.

I had watched the light return to his eyes, little by little, watched him stand straighter, and somewhere along the way, I convinced myself that I meant something.

When he proposed, I had been stunned.

“Marry me,” he had said, his voice steady, his gaze unreadable.

“Why?” I had asked before I could stop myself.

“You saved me from the Rogue wolves suicide attack ” He had paused, just for a second before he said finally. “I can't forget that.”

He didn't say I love you, or I want you, but at the time it had been enough, more than enough.

“Yes,” I had whispered. I didn’t even think. I just said it, because I believed that love could grow.

That one day, he would look at me the way I looked at him. That one day, I wouldn’t feel like I was reaching for something just out of grasp.

The car slowed,pulling me back to the present. A pang pierced at my heart as I stared down at my hands, unmoving.

I had followed him here, left everything behind, fought for a place beside him, stayed when it was hard, loved him when it hurt, and in the end

He'd thrown it all away for Elisa.