FIXING WOUNDS

MY RELATIONSHIP

Dating Zero felt different from everything Ivy thought it would be.

It wasn’t fireworks. It wasn’t grand gestures or late-night declarations. It was quiet. Steady. Like sitting beside each other in the library without saying a word and still feeling less alone.

But quiet didn’t mean easy.

Ivy had spent years building walls. Brick by brick. Silence by silence. And now someone was on the other side, asking to come in.

The first time Zero reached for her hand in the hallway, Ivy flinched.

Not because she didn’t want him to. Because she wasn’t used to it.

Zero noticed right away. He didn’t pull back or get upset. He just lowered his hand and said, “We can go at your pace, Ivy. No pressure.”

That was the thing about him. He never pushed. He just stayed.

---

Sarah and Zara noticed immediately.

They didn’t say anything at first. They just watched the way Ivy’s shoulders relaxed when Zero was around. The way she actually smiled now, not the small closed smile she gave her mom, but a real one that reached her eyes.

Freda noticed too.

But Freda didn’t smile.

She’d been distant since graduation. Polite at best. And now, watching Ivy and Zero walk to class together, laughing about something stupid Zero said, Freda felt it again — that old feeling of being on the outside.

She told herself it didn’t matter. That she was fine being alone. That she didn’t need a big group like Zara had.

But it still hurt.

---

Two weeks into dating, Ivy had her first panic moment.

They were in Zero’s dorm room, studying for a psych midterm. Music was playing low. Zero was explaining a concept about attachment theory, and Ivy was actually listening for once.

Then Zero leaned over and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Ivy froze.

Her chest tightened. Her breathing got shallow. All she could think about was Priscilla’s laugh, her mom’s cold words, Dylan’s _“K”_. All the times she’d let someone close and ended up hurt.

“I need to go,” Ivy said suddenly, standing up too fast.

Zero blinked. “What? Is everything okay?”

“I can’t— I just need some air.”

She grabbed her bag and left before Zero could answer.

She didn’t come back for two days.

---

Zero didn’t chase her.

He sent one message: _“I’m here when you’re ready. No questions.”_

That was it.

Ivy stared at that message for hours. She wanted to reply. She wanted to explain. But the words wouldn’t come.

Instead, she talked to Sarah.

“I don’t know how to do this,” Ivy admitted. “I don’t know how to let someone in without feeling like I’m going to lose myself.”

Sarah sat with her on the balcony, legs dangling over the edge.

“You don’t have to do it perfectly,” Sarah said. “You just have to try. And Zero? He’s not going to run because you had a bad day.”

Ivy wasn’t so sure. But she wanted to believe it.

---

On the third day, Ivy went back to Zero’s dorm.

She knocked softly.

Zero opened the door. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept well. But when he saw her, his whole face changed.

“I’m sorry,” Ivy said before he could speak. “I didn’t mean to just disappear. I got scared.”

Zero nodded. “I know.”

“I don’t want to mess this up,” she whispered. “But I don’t know how not to.”

Zero stepped aside and let her in.

“Then we figure it out together,” he said. “You don’t have to have all the answers, Ivy. I don’t either.”

He sat down on the bed and patted the space beside him.

Ivy hesitated. Then she sat.

They didn’t talk about the kiss or the panic or the fear. They just sat there, shoulder to shoulder, like they used to under the mango tree.

And for the first time in a long time, Ivy didn’t feel like she had to run.

---

Meanwhile, Freda was struggling in her own way.

She saw how close Zara and Ivy were becoming again. She saw how Ivy lit up around Zero. And she felt like the only one who hadn’t changed since high school.

One evening, Freda found Zara in the library alone.

“Do you think Ivy actually forgives us?” Freda asked out of nowhere.

Zara looked up from her notes. “I think… she’s trying to. And I think we have to try too.”

Freda didn’t answer. She just nodded and walked away.

But that night, she sent Ivy a message. Just one line: _“Good luck with the midterm. You’ve got this.”_

Ivy read it and didn’t reply right away.

But she didn’t delete it either.