Beyond The Gaze: A Love Unseen

Chapter 28

Past - 11

Third Party's POV:

"What's that?" Brey asked, pointing at Sven's jacket. Exhaling a puff of smoke from his cigarette, Sven followed Brey's gaze to the inside pocket of his jacket.

A faint snort escaped his lips as he imagined Elysia's panicked state when she would eventually realize her diary was gone.

"Nothing much," Sven replied casually, and hid the diary inside his pocket, taking another puff of his cigarette, his mind preoccupied with thoughts of Elysia.

That girl was a fascinating subject for teasing. He had never met an interesting girl like her before; her reactions were far from typical, and he couldn't resist the urge to tease her.

The more she tried to avoid him and hide from him, the more he became curious about her. In fact, she was the sole reason Sven had been attending classes regularly lately.

He even went so far as to avoid trouble to keep from landing in detention, all in the hopes of annoying her daily.

"You've been acting strange lately," Brey commented, looking at Sven with a scrutinizing gaze. He had been noticing the unusual shift in Sven's behavior over the past few weeks.

"What do you mean?" Sven asked, leaning his head against the wall and gazing up at the night sky, taking a long drag of his cigarette before releasing the smoke into the air. Brey, too, leaned against the wall, lighting his own cigarette.

"I don't know, man." Brey responded, exhaling a long puff of smoke into the cool night air. "But there's something different about you. You seem... happier, I guess?" Brey couldn't pinpoint the exact change in Sven but there was something unusual about him.

The two of them stood outside a bustling nightclub, staring into the dark night. Drunken people roamed around, and others sought solace in their cigarettes. The thumping music from inside the club barely reached them due to the closed doors.

Sven contemplated Brey's words, realizing that he was actually right. In the past, he had actively sought trouble, trying to create chaos for Philip and Melissa Damaris, engaging in fights, causing disturbances in school, and making appearances in the tabloids with different girls every week. He had done everything possible to tarnish the Damaris family's reputation.

Ironically, this was the longest period he had refrained from causing any mess around, and surprisingly, he was okay with it. In fact, the thought of creating mess around didn't appeal him as much as before.

"...Maybe you're right," Sven muttered, still gazing into space. "I think I've grown tired of trying to be relevant to the people who couldn't care less about me," he added, sliding his one hand into his pants pocket. "...tired of doing things just to appease others or gain their attention."

Brey looked at Sven, deep in thought, absorbing his words, and studying him thoughtfully. "Is she the reason for this change?" He inquired, gauging Sven's reaction. Sven glanced at him with a questioning expression.

"The new girl, I mean," Brey clarified.

"Nah," Sven responded, turning his gaze back to the world beyond, again taking a deep drag of his cigarette. "I haven't thought of her in that way." he affirmed in a resolute tone.

"Why not? She's quite beautiful," Brey remarked, furrowing his brow in confusion, as he felt Sven's actions and words didn't align.

"That's true! She's undoubtedly beautiful" Sven admitted readily. "But she isn't my type; too innocent, and I'm not into nice girls," he explained honestly.

"Well, good girls tend to fall for bad boys. I wouldn't be surprised if you two became a thing eventually," Brey remarked with a sly grin and a playful wiggle of his eyebrows. A chuckle slipped from Sven's lips at his comment.