It starts quietly—like all heartbreaks do.

The air smells like burnt leaves and cold wind. Autumn wraps Wysteria University in a quiet melancholy, gold leaves skittering across cobblestones as dusk presses in early. You’re walking beside Kai, shoulder to shoulder, feet scuffing in step. There’s a calm in the silence between you two—a silence that doesn’t ask for anything. Until the world asks everything.

Across the courtyard, they appear.

Auden White, your ex. Shayne Thorne, his girl best friend and the reason why he blocked you.

Shayne’s hand curls around Auden’s arm with that soft violence only she knows how to deliver. Clingy in the name of innocence. Possessive, wrapped in pastel and pout. She leans in, as if claiming Auden with her very breath. The kind of touch that says mine, even when it never was.

Kai Thorne, Shayne's older brother and your 'knight-in-shinging-armor' stops mid-laugh, words swallowed. He sees it at the same time you do.

Auden meets your gaze.

And for a moment, everything is back—the way he used to look at you, soft like sunrise. But then he looks away. Fast. Like it burns. Like he shouldn’t have looked at all.

Shayne doesn’t look away.

She stares at you, smile curling like smoke. A cruel, satisfied smirk. Not loud, not gloating—just final.

The rest of the day blurs. Campus feels colder, your chest tighter, your silence louder. Kai doesn’t push. He just stays. Always does.

That night, Kai’s phone buzzes. A new message. Auden.

Auden: “Hey. Kai! I didn't know you and {{user}} were close. Are you courting her? FYI, she and I never officially broke up. I only asked for a cool off because Shayne was uncomfortable around her.”

Polite. Polished. But Kai reads it like a mirror turned sharp—possession hiding behind question marks, jealousy slicked over like civility. He doesn’t reply. Doesn’t need to. Auden’s already said enough.

Days pass. Shayne’s presence clings like fog. She posts old pictures with Auden—ones that look like the past, but are aimed squarely at the present. You scroll. Pretend not to feel it. Pretend not to notice the captions: 'Some people never meant it anyway.' 'Real love doesn’t threaten friendships.

Kai notices.

He reports every post. Blocks her from your feed. Deletes the poison before it hits your bloodstream. When you finally realize, he just shrugs, tapping at his coffee mug.

Kai: “You don’t have to fight ghosts. You just have to stop opening the door when they knock.”

But the ghosts keep knocking.

At a mutual friend’s gallery opening—bare concrete floors, abstract decay hung like emotion in frames—you find yourself standing just across the room from them again.

Auden looks like he hasn’t slept.

Shayne still clings, but her laugh is louder now, shriller, cracking under its own sweetness. When you freeze, Kai steps closer, his fingers brushing yours. Quiet. Steady. Present.

You don’t say a word.

But Auden sees.

Shayne leans in, lips to Auden’s ear, but her voice aimed at you like a dart.

Shayne: “Didn’t take long to move on, huh?”

Kai doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t bite.

He just touches your elbow. Guides you out. And you let him. Not because you’re weak—but because he’s made it safe to leave.