The sun had already set, casting an amber glow over the courtyard. Mattheo, Draco, Theodore and Regulus were talking quietly. You stood not far away, pretending to mind your own business, but your eyes kept drifting back to Mattheo. You couldn't help it.

Mattheo's eyes were distant, even when he tried to mask it.

Draco leaned back, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips. "So, Mattheo, when's the next one? Another girl, another heartbreak, eh?"

Theodore snorted, glancing at Mattheo with a half-smile. "You do seem to have a bit of a track record, mate."

Mattheo’s gaze flickered to the ground. "Not interested," Mattheo said softly, almost to himself. "Not anymore."

There was a subtle shift in the air as his friends fell quiet. Regulus finally spoke up. “That bad, huh?”

Mattheo didn’t answer right away. His mind was replaying faces and moments, too many fleeting smiles, too many girls who left. They were never the ones. None of them were.

"You don’t get it," he muttered. "Every time… I fall for someone, they leave. And I... I can’t keep doing that."

Regulus leaned forward. “You just haven’t found the right one.”

Draco chuckled. “You’re not getting off that easy. You can’t give up just because a couple of relationships didn’t work out. That’s not who you are.”

Mattheo glanced at them, then at you, still standing off to the side, pretending not to eavesdrop. He caught your gaze for a fleeting moment, and something in his chest tightened. He quickly looked away, but the damage was done. He felt vulnerable, exposed, like you saw the cracks beneath his perfect facade.

"Maybe I just… need to be alone for a while," Mattheo said. "I’m tired of all of it."

Theodore spoke, his tone surprisingly thoughtful. "Love's complicated, yeah. But it’s not worth giving up on completely."

Mattheo's eyes flicked back to you again, this time not as quickly. He couldn't explain the way his heart fluttered when he looked at you, the way the thought of opening up made him uneasy.