Amyra sat beside Alden. Her cheeks flushed every time she glanced his way.
The noise in the classroom faded.
The nightmares she pretended to forget melted away.
The buzzing in her head — the weight, the fear, the ache — all of it vanished.
Just from being near him.
She hated how obvious she was.
Hated that he noticed.
And yet… she didn't want to look away.
Not when everything else felt broken, except him.
She had another nightmare last night of the day they first met.
It was strange how vividly she remembered that moment.
So much time had passed, yet that memory still felt like yesterday — too clear to fade.
Back then, everything around her had felt rotten.
People. Their smiles. Their words.
All of it filled with the stench of fakeness.
But he was the exception.
He was the first person who smiled at her like he meant it. Back then, she didn't realize how deeply she would fall for a boy so ordinary.
But the nightmare twisted even that. It warped the memory.
