Chapter Four: The Way He Listens
894 Words
The park was quiet.
Not empty—but quiet enough for thoughts to breathe.
Arielle sat on a wooden bench, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on nothing in particular. The wind brushed softly against her skin, carrying a calm she didn’t feel inside.
Everything still lingered.
Kael’s voice.
His expression.
The way he walked away like it didn’t matter.
But it did.
It mattered too much.
“You came.”
Her breath caught slightly.
She didn’t need to look up to know who it was.
“I wasn’t sure if I would,” she admitted softly.
Luca stepped around the bench, stopping just close enough—but not too close.
“Yet you’re here,” he said.
Arielle gave a small nod.
Silence followed.
But this silence…
It wasn’t painful.
It didn’t feel like something was missing.
It felt… understood.
Luca sat beside her, leaving a respectful space between them.
“I won’t ask what’s wrong,” he said after a moment.
Arielle glanced at him, surprised.
“You won’t?”
He shook his head lightly.
“If you wanted to tell me, you would.”
Her chest tightened slightly.
Because that was exactly it.
People always asked.
But no one ever waited.
“You’re different,” she said quietly.
Luca smiled faintly. “So I’ve been told.”
Arielle let out a soft breath, her gaze dropping to her hands.
“I don’t talk about things,” she said.
“I know.”
She frowned slightly. “How?”
“You carry it,” he replied simply.
That hit deeper than she expected.
Her fingers tightened together.
“…it’s not that easy,” she whispered.
“I didn’t say it was.”
She looked at him again.
And for the first time—
She didn’t feel like she had to explain herself.
“I think…” she started slowly, her voice barely above a whisper,
“…I got used to being quiet.”
Luca didn’t interrupt.
Didn’t rush her.
Didn’t fill the silence.
He just listened.
And somehow…
That made it easier to continue.
“When you stay quiet long enough,” she went on, “people stop asking. They stop noticing. And then… it just becomes who you are.”
Her throat tightened slightly.
“I don’t even know how to say things anymore.”
The confession hung in the air.
Raw.
Honest.
Dangerous.
Luca turned his head slightly, his gaze soft—but steady.
“Then don’t say it,” he said.
Arielle blinked. “What?”
“Not everything has to be spoken,” he continued.
“Some things just need to be felt… and understood.”
Her heart skipped.
Because that—
That was everything she had been trying to say…
Without ever saying it.
“…and what if no one understands?” she asked quietly.
Luca held her gaze.
“Then they’re not the right person to understand you.”
Silence.
But this time—
It wasn’t empty.
It was full of something she couldn’t name.
Something warm.
Something safe.
Something…
She wasn’t used to.
Across the street—
Kael stood beside his car.
He hadn’t planned to come here.
But somehow—
He did.
And now…
He couldn’t leave.
His eyes were locked on them.
On her.
On the way she looked at Luca.
The way she spoke.
The way she was opening up…
In a way she never did with him.
His chest tightened.
Something unfamiliar settled in.
Not anger.
Not frustration.
Something worse.
Regret.
“She talks to him…” he muttered under his breath.
More than she ever talked to me.
His jaw clenched.
Because now he saw it clearly—
It was never that Arielle had nothing to say.
It was that…
She didn’t feel safe enough to say it to him.
Back on the bench—
Arielle let out a small breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly.
“Talking to you feels… easy,” she admitted.
Luca didn’t smile this time.
He just looked at her.
“Because I’m not asking you to be anything,” he said.
“Just… you.”
Her heart softened.
And that scared her.
Because easy things…
Don’t usually come without consequences.
⸻
“You should be careful,” she said suddenly.
Luca raised a brow slightly. “Of what?”
“Me.”
That caught his attention.
“Why?”
Arielle hesitated.
Then shook her head lightly.
“I come with… a lot.”
Pain. Silence. Complications.
Unfinished feelings.
Luca studied her for a moment.
Then—
“I don’t mind,” he said.
Her breath hitched slightly.
“Most people do.”
“I’m not most people.”
And the way he said it…
Made her believe him.
⸻
From a distance, Kael looked away.
Because he couldn’t watch anymore.
Not the way she looked at someone else.
Not the way someone else understood her.
Not when—
He was the one who should have.
⸻
Arielle stood slowly.
“I should go,” she said.
Luca nodded.
But this time—
“Will you come back?” he asked.
She paused.
Her heart pulling in two different directions.
Past.
And something new.
“…maybe,” she said softly.
But her voice didn’t sound unsure.
It sounded like the beginning of something.
⸻
And somewhere behind her—
Something else was ending.
- Writer
