HER UNREQUITED LOVE

Shadows

Vincent's POV

So, I’m a coward and a baby.

​Yeah, I know. I know exactly what everyone thinks of me, and honestly, they aren’t wrong. I’m the silent brother. The one who fades completely into the background while my siblings tear the world apart. I know I’m supposed to stand up for her. I know I should defend her when she’s cornered, helpless, and gasping for air on a filthy classroom floor.

​But… I can’t. My siblings completely forbid me from stepping out of line, and the chains they’ve wrapped around my wrists are far heavier than anyone at Oak Haven Academy could ever understand.

​As long as I can remember, Aria was always close to Colton and Andre. They were the ones she laughed with, the ones who got to be near her, the ones who occupied every corner of her bright, innocent world before everything shattered. I just used to watch her from a distance, existing like an invisible ghost in the corners of the room. I was the boy tucked away by the window, drowning myself in sheet music and theatrical scripts just to escape the suffocating reality of my own last name. But even back then, despite my silence, Aria would notice me. She didn’t look past me the way my own flesh and blood did. She used to talk to me with that angelic, gentle voice of hers—a voice that I loved so much it practically sustained me through the darkest nights of my childhood.

​The truth is, I have been deeply in love with her for as long as I can remember.

​And it kills me. It absolutely destroys me because I know she doesn't feel the same way. It’s only Colton she has eyes for. Even now, through all the calculated cruelty, through the footballs hurled at her face and the psychological torment, her heart still beats for him. She still looks at him with a fragile, lingering hope, completely blind to the fact that the boy who once saved her in the dirt has willfully turned into her executioner.

​And gosh… my sister Vanessa is an absolute b***h. I wish more than anything that I could just be brave somehow, smash my fists into the mahogany dining table at home, and put an end to her toxic, malicious games. But they have me completely trapped. Vanessa and Andre always threaten me with the ultimate weapon, a secret so dark it keeps my jaw permanently locked. They swear that the second I step out of line, they will tell the brutal truth to Aria about what really happened between our families years ago. And I have no choice but to stay silent, because if that truth ever comes out, it won’t just break her heart—it could risk her life big time. With her severe respiratory condition, the sheer emotional trauma of that revelation would trigger an attack her fragile body might never recover from. So, to keep her alive, I have to let her believe I don’t care.

​But living in this grand, white mansion on the hill is its own kind of hell. People look at the Vance family and see an empire of unbreakable wealth and prestige, but inside these walls, I am nothing but a glitch in the system.

​"Look at you, Vincent," my father’s booming, icy voice used to echo through the grand library during our weekly family reviews. He would look down his nose at me, his eyes filled with a clinical, detached disgust as he tossed my musical compositions into the wastebasket. "A room full of legacy, and you waste your time scratching lines on paper. You are a complete failure to the Vance name."

​He would always compare me to them. It was a daily ritual of degradation. “Why can’t you be more like Andre?” he would snap, gesturing out the window toward the private court where Andre was dominating his trainers. “Andre had fire. He has the killer instinct required to command respect. And Colton? Colton is the golden standard of this family. He knows how to rule Oak Haven with an iron fist. But you? You are soft. Weak. A disappointment.”

​My mother was no refuge, either. If my father’s abuse was a raging fire, her presence was an absolute arctic winter. She showed me almost no affection whatsoever. I can’t remember a single time she pulled me into a genuine hug or told me she was proud of me. After the family secrets tore her apart years ago, she became entirely hollow, moving through the estate like a well-dressed corpse. Whenever my siblings would berate me, she would just sit at the end of the long dining table, quietly sipping her wine, her eyes completely vacant. To her, I was just a living reminder of the vulnerability she despised. She completely withdrew from me, leaving me to navigate the cruelty of my brothers entirely alone.

​And my brothers certainly made sure I knew my place. Throughout our childhood, Andre and Colton treated me like a broken toy. If I tried to sit with them, Andre would deliberately kick my chair or shove me into the dirt, laughing with his athletic friends about the "artistic baby" of the family. They would steal my notebooks, mock my quiet demeanor, and use their physical dominance to keep me locked in my room. I was the family weakling, a shadow they could step on whenever they needed to feel powerful.

​Yet, through all that darkness, Aria was the single thread of light I clung to.

​I still remember the exact moment my heart skipped a beat for her for the very first time. It was on her tenth birthday, years ago, before the hatred took root. My mother had actually been fond of Aria back then—a bizarre, distant memory from a time when our family still possessed a shred of humanity. My mom used to spoil her, buying her little gifts and constantly comparing her to Vanessa. “Why can’t you be more like Aria, Vanessa?” my mother would say, her voice dripping with rare warmth as she patted Aria's head. “Aria is gentle, quiet, and well-behaved. You could learn a thing or two from her.”

​That constant, public comparison didn't just sow the seeds for the venomous hatred Vanessa carries today; it made Aria a target inside our own house. But on that specific birthday night, before Vanessa lured her into the trap with the muddy water, I saw Aria standing near the grand staircase. She wore the most beautiful, modest gown, and her hair was done so perfectly, cascading down her shoulders like pure silk. I remember standing in the shadows of the mezzanine, completely breathless, genuinely wondering if she could be the most beautiful creature God had ever created. My eyes followed her all through the night, helpless against the invisible, magnetic pull she had over me.

​Damn… I love it when she smiles. When she’s comfortable around you, her entire defensive perimeter drops, her shyness completely melts away, and she becomes so incredibly smart, intelligent, and vibrant. She just talks and talks about the things she loves—about literature, about science, about the simple beauty of the world. I mean, yeah… she could easily be every single guy’s absolute dream girl. If only they had the eyes to see past her worn uniform.

​Instead, they choose to see a target. I utterly hate the vile, degrading name they call her in the hallways. "Charity case." Hearing them chant it today in the Biolab while she was suffocating made my blood run absolutely cold. Watching Vanessa deliberately spill that toxic formaldehyde, watching Aria collapse against the podium while my brothers either laughed or turned a blind eye... it tore a piece of my soul away. My hand had tightened around my pen so hard it nearly snapped in half. For a split second, the raw, roaring urge to stand up, throw my desk aside, and carry her to safety nearly overcame the fear of my family's leverage.

​But I had to force the unbothered twin mask back over my face. I had to sit there, looking entirely detached, while my heart was screaming in agony.

​I can’t live like this anymore. I can’t keep watching her suffocate from the sidelines while I play the role of the spineless, indifferent brother. If Vanessa and Andre want to use the truth as a weapon to keep me in chains, then I will just have to learn how to operate in the dark. I have to find a way to get close to her. I have to protect her from the monsters I call my family—even if I have to do it entirely from the shadows.