↷✦; w e l c o m e ❞
The sun above Binatara University felt blazing, but to Zevanya, the air around her seemed frozen. In the main corridor leading to the central cafeteria, her footsteps automatically stopped. The sight before her was like a dagger stabbing straight into her heart.
Under a flowering angsana tree, Mathius sat side by side with Amora. Mathius, the man who had filled every page of Zevanya's journal for years, was laughing heartily. His hand reached up, smoothing Amora's hair with a gentle gesture—a gesture Zevanya had always imagined would be directed at her.
Amora returned the gesture with a sweet smile, resting her head on Mathius's shoulder as if the world belonged only to the two of them.
Zevanya's face remained impassive. No tears fell, no sobs escaped. She stood still, like a cold marble statue. Her brown eyes stared straight ahead, recording every moment of intimacy with painful sharpness.
However, behind that mask of calm, her heart was shattered. Each of Mathius's laughs sounded like a crack in her chest. She felt suffocated, as if the oxygen in Binatara had suddenly run out.
"A sad sight, isn't it?"
A deep, cynical voice broke the silence in Zevanya's ear. Without even turning around, Zevanya knew it was Jayden. Her arrogant younger brother, who had followed her all the way here, a man who always viewed the world with a skeptical eye.
Jayden stepped forward, standing beside Zevanya, his hands buried in the pockets of his trousers. He glanced at Mathius and Amora, then turned to Zevanya's blank face with a disdainful grin.
"How long are you going to stand here like a fool, dear sister?" Jayden asked coldly. "Watching a cheesy drama you don't even play a part in?"
Zevanya didn't answer. She kept her gaze fixed on him.
Jayden chuckled, his laugh dry and humorless. "Look at you. You call that pain a 'sacrifice of love.' You feel noble for continuing to love her even though she adores another woman. To me? That's not love. That's an insult to self-respect."
Jayden took a step closer, bending down so his voice was right next to Zevanya's ear. "Your concept of love is disgusting, Sis, Zevanya. You silently beg for affection, hoping one day he'll turn to you because of your pathetic loyalty. Love for you is about 'waiting' and 'enduring the pain.' That's not love, it's delusion."
Zevanya finally blinked. Her fingers gripped the strap of her bag so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
"You have no idea what I feel, Jayden," Zevanya whispered, her voice hoarse but still even.
"I know more than you think," Jayden interrupted sharply. "You worship pain. You think with a broken heart, you're the hero of a tragedy novel. Yet, in their eyes, you're nothing more than a blurry backdrop. Stop idolizing loyalty to someone who doesn't want you. The love you glorify is just a subtle way to destroy yourself."
Jayden straightened himself, giving Mathius and Amora one more disgusted glance before turning away. "Go home. Wash your face. Stop being a free spectacle for those who don't even know you're here. Your love is trash, Zevanya, if it has no value to the person you're targeting."
Jayden walked away, leaving Zevanya standing still, frozen. From a distance, Mathius kissed Amora's forehead. It was then, for the first time, that Zevanya's impassive facade crumbled. A tear fell, not because of the intimacy before her, but because she had just realized that Jayden's cruel words were the purest truth.
Her heart was indeed broken, and on this vast Binatara campus, she was nothing but a loser embracing her own wounds.