Chapter3
915 Words
The first thing I learned in my second life was that Elias wasn’t going to make this easy for me.
He was avoiding me.
Not in the dramatic, storming-out-of-the-room way. No, Elias was far too controlled for that.
Instead, he did what he had done in our first life—he simply made himself unavailable.
During class, he sat at the far end of the room, eyes focused ahead, as if I didn’t exist. During lunch, he found a seat with the other warriors, laughing at something one of them said, while I stood frozen at the entrance of the cafeteria.
And after school, when we usually walked home together, he left without a single word.
I had expected him to be distant.
I just hadn’t expected how much it would hurt.
Because now that I knew what I had lost, every second he spent ignoring me felt like a knife to the chest.
But I didn’t blame him.
How could I?
I had spent years pushing him away, treating him like a nuisance, embarrassing him in front of the treating him like a nuisance, embarrassing him in front of the pack just to prove that I didn’t need him.
I had deserved his rejection back then.
But this time, I was going to fight for him.
This time, I wouldn’t make the same mistakes.
I found him after training, wiping sweat from his brow, his muscles still tense from the workout.
It was the first time we had been alone since this morning, and I wasn’t going to waste it.
"Elias," I called out.
He didn’t even glance up as he grabbed his water bottle from the bench. "What do you want, Adrianna?"
Not Addy. Not Luna.
Just Adrianna.
It stung more than I wanted to admit.
I swallowed hard. "We need to talk."
"No, we don’t."
He turned to leave, but I stepped in front of him.
"Please."
His jaw tensed. His grip tightened around his bottle.
For a second, I thought he might just walk around me, but then he let out a sharp exhale and crossed his arms. "Fine. Say whatever you need to say."
I hesitated.
I had spent so much time trying to figure out what my first move should be—how to fix this, how to rewrite our story. But now, standing in front of him, nothing felt like the right thing to say.
So I went with the truth.
"I want to start over," I said quietly.
Elias let out a short laugh, shaking his head. "That’s funny. Really. But no thanks."
I flinched. "Elias—"
"You don’t get to do this," he said sharply, his eyes flashing with something unreadable. "You don’t get to just change overnight and expect me to forget everything."
"I’m not asking you to forget," I said quickly. "I just—"
"You don’t do second chances, Adrianna." His voice was low now, almost amused. "You don’t believe in them. So tell me, what’s the game this time?"
There was no malice in his voice. Just a quiet exhaustion.
That hurt the most.
Because I had done this to him.
I had made him tired of me.
"I just want things to be different," I whispered.
Elias tilted his head slightly, as if considering me.
Then, without another word, he turned and walked away.
The whispers started the next day.
I had forgotten how quickly rumors spread in our pack.
By the time I arrived at school, the hallways were already buzzing with it—low murmurs, curious glances, knowing smirks.
I knew what they were saying.
She’s trying to get Elias back.
Can you believe she even thinks he’ll take her seriously?
The Luna of our generation, reduced to chasing after a mate who doesn’t want her? How pathetic.
I kept my head high as I walked past them, pretending not to hear a word.
I deserved this.
I had built my reputation with my own hands—ruthless, untouchable, power-hungry.
No one in this pack had ever seen me as a girl who could love.
Just a girl who could win.
And now that I was losing, they were enjoying the show.
I pushed open the door to my first class and nearly crashed into someone.
"Whoa."
Daniel.
Again.
He grinned down at me, tilting his head. "You okay, Adrianna? You’re looking a little… off today."
I knew what he meant.
Daniel had always been good at reading me.
In my first life, I had used that against him, twisting it in my favor. But now, standing in front of him again, all I felt was guilt.
I stepped back. "I’m fine."
"Uh-huh." He didn’t sound convinced.
I sighed, glancing around the classroom. Elias wasn’t here yet.
"Listen, Daniel," I started, shifting awkwardly. "About—"
"Adrianna."
I turned just in time to see Elias walking in.
And for the first time since I woke up in this second chance, I saw something flicker across his face.
Not anger. Not resentment.
Something darker.
It was gone in an instant, buried under indifference as he slid into his seat.
But I had seen it.
And I knew what it meant.
Elias had stopped caring about me a long time ago.
But that didn’t mean he was okay with seeing me with someone else.
And if I was going to fix things…
I had to use that.
Even if it meant playing a game I didn’t want to play anymore.
- Writer
