drowned ✔️

• t w e n t y - f i v e •

"Leon," I called out, my voice blowing away in the sharp night air.

"Nara," I heard a soft mumbled from behind me. "I wasn't sure you'd come."

"Well, I'm here. Stop wasting my time," I snapped, turning to face him. His body was shrouded in shadow - only his eyes were illuminated by the dim moonlight.

"Of course," he agreed, taking a step closer to me. I fought the urge to take a step back, and remained rooted in my spot. "I wanted to talk to you. To tell you why I left."

My interest piqued, and I raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"I didn't have a choice," he continued. "I wouldn't have left you like that if I did. My dad, he, uh, got into some trouble with his gang. Decided the best way out was ratting on them. We got thrown into some shady-ass witsec program."

"And now?" I asked, an unbelieving chuckled escaping my lips. His words seemed true, but my brain refused to accept them. And even if he wasn't lying, where did that leave us? I cared about Rhys now too, in some fucked up way, and after hating Leon for so long, I could never go back to him. My heart ached in unknowingness, and I didn't want to have to choose between them.

"Now, the gang is gone. He's safe. I'm safe," Leon told me, a heartbreaking smile stretching across his lips. "We can go back to the way we were."

He was a foot away from me now, his eyes hopeful and happy. He rested his hands on my shoulders lightly, and brought his fingers up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. As he gently caressed my cheek, I decided to reveal the heartbreaking truth.

"We can never for back to the way we were," I mumbled, stepping back from. Seeing the betrayal in his eyes stung, but I knew from the moment the words left my mouth that they were irrevocable.