CHAPTER 35
I didn’t expect another reply.
Not really.
But I still checked. Four times.
Each time, the message stayed the same. No new dots, no typing bubble. Just the quiet confirmation that my words had been seen.
You should’ve been braver.
Read.
But not answered.
I slipped my phone under my pillow and stared at the ceiling until morning pressed itself into the room. And still, silence.
That silence used to feel like safety. Now it felt like someone holding their breath too long, waiting to see if I’d notice they were still in the room.
And I had noticed. I noticed everything now.
⸻
By midmorning, I was restless. I walked past the usual crowd outside the campus library and stopped only when I caught a face I hadn’t seen in weeks.
Chuka.
He was leaning against the railing nea
