Chapter 18: When Snow melts
829 Words
Elena’s thumb hovered over the photo.
Adrian. Older. Sharper jawline. Same dark coat he used to wear in Berlin. Someone had drawn a red circle around him with what looked like a marker. And underneath, in block letters:
HE’S COMING HOME.
The snow kept falling. Caleb’s hand was on her shoulder now.
“Elena. Talk to me.”
She couldn’t. Her mouth opened. Nothing came out.
Because Adrian had written her that note. You don’t have to choose between moving forward and remembering. He’d given her closure. He’d let her go. Adrian didn’t send vague threats. Adrian didn’t send photos of himself.
So who did?
“Give me your phone,” Caleb said quietly. Not demanding. Steady.
Elena handed it over. Her fingers were numb.
Caleb read it. His jaw tightened once. That was all. He zoomed in on the photo. Then he locked the screen.
“Okay. First: breathe,” he said. “Second: we’re not standing on a street at midnight reading threats.”
“It’s not a threat,” Elena whispered. “It’s… a warning.”
“Then we treat it like one.” He looked at her. Really looked. “Are you safe with me right now?”
The question cut through everything. Not are you still choosing me. Not is it him. Just: are you safe.
Elena nodded.
“Good. Then we go inside. We call Maya and Priya. We do not reply.”
---
10:43 PM. Elena’s Dorm. Common Room.
Maya took one look at Elena’s face and didn’t ask. She just closed the door.
Priya saw the phone and immediately said, “Nobody touches it. Jamal, no screenshots. No posting. Nobody.”
Jamal raised both hands. “I’m not an i***t, Priya.”
Elena sat on the floor. Blanket again. Same spot as this morning. It felt like six years ago, not six hours.
“Walk us through it,” Maya said.
Elena did. The competition. The win. The fellowship email she hadn’t opened yet. The dinner. The snow. The text.
When she got to the photo, Priya cursed under her breath.
“Adrian wouldn’t,” Maya said firmly. “You said it yourself. He gave you the notebook. He let go.”
“Exactly,” Elena said. “So someone wants me to think it’s him.”
Caleb, who’d been silent, spoke. “Or someone wants him to come back.”
Everyone looked at him.
“What?” Jamal said.
“Devereaux Holdings,” Caleb said. He didn’t flinch saying it this time. “My family’s logistics company? We handle shipping for the university’s Berlin exchange program. The building in that photo? It’s one of ours.”
The room went quiet.
“You never said—” Priya started.
“Because it didn’t matter,” Caleb said. “Until now. If Adrian’s in Berlin, and someone’s using our building… that’s not random.”
Elena stared at him. “You think this is connected to you?”
“I think I’m going to find out tonight,” he said. He was already texting. “And I’m not doing it alone.”
---
12:19 AM. Elena’s Room.
Everyone else had left. Maya made her promise to sleep. Priya confiscated her phone “for evidence”.
Caleb didn’t leave.
“I’m not staying in your bed,” he said immediately. “I’m on the floor. Door open.”
Elena nodded. She was too tired to argue.
They sat in silence for a while. Snow against the window.
“Do you regret it?” she asked suddenly. “Me. This. Now, with… this happening.”
Caleb turned to look at her. “No,” he said. No hesitation. “Not yet. Not ever, if I can help it.”
Elena exhaled. “Good. Because I’m scared.”
“I know,” he said. “Be scared with me. Not instead of me.”
She didn’t answer. She just lay down. He lay on the floor, arm under his head.
Before she slept, her laptop pinged.
The fellowship email. She’d closed it earlier. Now she opened it.
She read it twice. Full funding. Berlin residency included. Starting next term.
Berlin.
The same city Adrian was in.
She closed the laptop.
Caleb’s voice came from the floor, quiet. “You’re going to take it, aren’t you?”
Elena stared at the ceiling. Snow turning white again outside.
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “But I can’t decide because I’m afraid of a text message.”
“Then don’t,” Caleb said. “Decide because of you.”
She turned on her side. He was already looking at her.
“Daylight,” she said.
“Daylight,” he repeated.
Neither of them slept much.
---
Last line on the page, in Elena’s handwriting, added at 3:04 AM:
Adrian taught me how to leave. Caleb’s teaching me how to stay. I don’t know who’s coming home. But I’m not running before I find out.
---
- Writer
