CHAPTER 2🖤
644 Words
Author's POV
Blackwood Height didn't wake up slowly. It arrived.
Engines purred along polished roads, sleek cars lining the entrance like a quiet display of wealth. Students stepped out in expensive clothes and effortless confidence, laughter spilling into the morning sir like it belonged there.
Everything about the place screamed control. Perfection. Expectations.
Lyiana Vale walked through it like none of it existed.
The car door shut behind her with a soft click but she didn't turn back. She never did. Her steps were even, unhurried, her gaze fixed ahead as if the world around her was just.... Background noise.
People noticed her.
They always did
Not because she tried-but because she didn't.
No unnecessary conversations.
No forced smiles.
No interest.
She was there.......but never there.
A few heads turned as she passed,whispers trailing behind her name, but she didn't acknowledge it. Didn't care.
By now, they should've known better.
Lyiana Vale didn't belong to anyone is curiosity across the driveway, a black car idled quietly.
The driver had already stepped out. The door at the back was open.
But Darrell Ashbourne hadn't moved.
He sat still, one arm resting against the door, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond the crowd.
To anyone passing by, it might've looked like he was just taking his time.
He wasn't.
He was watching. Because right on schedule. She stepped out. Lyiana.
His eyes followed her without thinking.Calm. Steady.
Like this was something he'd done a hundred times before.
Maybe it was.
She didn't look around. Didn't hesitate.
Just walked straight past the chaos.
Like she wasn't part of it.
Like she didn't belong to any of them.
Darrell's fingers stilled slightly against the leather seat.
There it was again.
That same distance.Years. That's how long it had been.
Same school.
Same spaces.
Same silent awareness. And still-nothing.
No conversation. No interactions. Not even something accidental.
Just this...... quiet understanding that existed without ever being acknowledged.
His jaw tightened, just barely.
She was getting closer now. Passing by the line of cars. Passing his car.
And for a split second- it looked like she might turn.
Like maybe, just maybe-
Nothing.
She walked past without a glance.
Not even a flicker of recognition.
Darrell exhaled slowly, leaning back slightly in his seat.
Of course.
It wasn't that she didn't know.
She knew.
She always knew.
That was the part that stayed with him.
Outside,the driveer shifted awkwardly, still holding the door open.
"Sir-"
Darrell stepped out before he could finish.
The shift was immediate.
Voices dipped.Heads turned.Presence.
That was the word people used for him.
Tall. Composed. Effortless in a way that didn't look practiced,even though it was. The kind of person people noticed without understanding why.
Captain. Leader. Expectation wrapped in human form.
"Darrell!"
A few guys from the team called out, already heading towards him.Someone else waved from across the courtyard.conversations picked up again,but differently now-focused. Centered. On him. He acknowledged them with a nod,falling in step like it was second nature. Like it was exactly where he was supposed to be. And maybe it was. But his eyes shifted once more.
Just briefly.
Ahead, Lyiana Vale disappeared into the building without looking back.Not once. Darrell looked away first.
By the time he reached entrance, the noise had swallowed everything again.
Plans. Gossip. Laughter. Normal.
He blended into it easily, saying the right things, giving just enough attention, carrying the role of everyone's expectation of him without slipping once.
No one would notice the difference.
No one ever did.
But for the first time that morning-
Something felt.....off. Not loud. Not obvious. Just there lingering.
Darrell Ashbourne adjusted his sleeve slightly as he walked into the building his expression as composed as ever.
But his thoughts?
They didn't follow him inside.
They stayed behind.
With the girl who never looked back.

Pic of Darrell's car.

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