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    Sienna’s POV


    Liam’s gaze shifted. Pain and guilt flickered there again, but I refused to let it reach the walls of my defenses that had only just begun to stand again.


    I pointed toward the small parking lot across the street. “Your car’s over there, right? Go home.”


    He looked at me as if wanting to say something, but didn’t. Maybe because he knew I was already exhausted, or maybe because he realized that not all wounds can be healed simply by showing up again.


    “Drive safe,” I said atst-softer than before, but still firm.


    I turned and began to walk away, leaving him standing alone amid the crash of waves and the sand growing colder beneath the night. I didn’t look back. Not this time.


    Because I knew that if I stopped now, I’d be trapped again between longing and the wounds that had never truly healed.


    My steps left trails in the dampening sand, every grain clinging to my feet like remnants of memories unwilling to let go. The sea breeze swept through my hair, tossing it across my face, carrying the sharp scent of salt. The waves kept chasing each other, breaking along the shore in a tireless rhythm, like time itself continuing to move even when the heart wants to stop.


    Above, the sky was a dusky shade of purple-grey, thest traces of twilight almost entirely gone. In the distance, the horizon blurred, where sea and sky merged, making the boundary almost impossible to see. Just like this feeling-unclear where longing


    ends and rejection begins.


    My feet pressed deeper into the sand as the wind picked up, swaying my body slightly. I took a deep breath, letting the cold air fill my lungs. But each breath brought back fragments of memoryughter in the afternoon, footsteps side by side, the sound of the waves that once felt warm because someone was beside me. Now, those waves only sounded like echoes from too far away.


    The sea asionally brushed against my feet, its chill creeping into my bones. It felt like a warning-that the world wouldn’t grow warmer simply because I wanted it to. Each time the tide receded, the sand beneath me eroded away, making me lose my bnce just slightly. Much like how a single departure can shake the foundations I once thought were solid.


    I walked without a clear destination, just following the line of the shore. Stars began to appear, shyly piercing through a thin veil of clouds. A half-moon hung low, its glow rippling across the gently heaving water. In the distance, a small boat’s lights flickered


    -too far to reach, yet close enough to see.


    My heart felt like that boat, drifting in the middle of the ocean, shining its light only as a reminder that it still existed, even if no one was truly looking.


    The sand beneath my feet grew colder. The footprints I left were soon erased by the waves, as if whispering that not every step needed to be remembered. Some were meant to be let go. Yet part of me still clung-like a child unwilling to release a broken toy for fear of losing thest thing they had.


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    The wind shifted, carrying a faint scent of rain. The air grew heavier, damp against my skin. The rustle of palm fronds along the shore added anotheryer of silence-one that, strangely, filled my ears instead of emptying them.


    I paused, letting my feet sink slightly deeper into the sand. In front of me, the sea stretched endlessly. I used to love its vastness, because it reminded me that the world was bigger than my problems. Now, that vastness only felt like empty space I could never


    hope to fill.


    The tide rolled in again, wrapping around my feet for a moment before retreating. I let it. Because in every pull of the water, the lesson was the same: not everything thates is meant to stay, and not everything that leaves takes all of itself away. Some parts


    remain-like the salt on your skin, or grains of sand caught between your toes.


    Behind me, the trail of footprints leading back to where he had stood was almost entirely gone. The sea had imed them, leaving the beach looking untouched—as if no one had been here at all. And maybe that was for the best.


    I hadn’t gone far when I heard footsteps crunching in the sand behind me. The sound of sand grinding beneath his shoes, then stopping not far from where I stood.


    “Sienna,” he called softly. “Let me take you home.”


    I stopped, but didn’t turn. “No need,” I said tly. “I can take a taxi.”


    “Please, just let me-”


    “No, Liam,” I cut him off quickly. This time I looked at him, unable to hide the exhaustion in my eyes. “I need space. I need quiet. And you… your presence right now only makes everything harder.”


    He fell silent. His face tightened, his jaw clenched, and his eyes reflected every form of rejection I had just spoken. But I didn’t care. I couldn’t pretend to be strong around him. Not anymore.


    Liam stepped closer. “I won’t force you to talk. I just want to make sure you get home safe.”


    “Liam,” I said softly, but firmly. “You’ve hurt me enough. Please don’t bother me again. This isn’t some romantic drama where you suddenly show up and everything magically gets better.”


    I took a deep breath, holding back the storm in my chest that was on the verge of breaking. “Please… stop. Don’t make me even


    more confused.”


    For a few seconds, he just stood there in silence before finally letting out a long sigh.


    “Alright,” he said quietly, almost in surrender. “Then… I’ll stay here. I’ll wait. Until you actually get in a taxi and leave.”


    I froze for a moment but said nothing. I stood at the side of the road, restless, my hand gripping the strap of my bag slung over my shoulder, while my eyes asionally darted toward Liam, who stood not far from me-still keeping his word, waiting until I got


    into a taxi.


    But there was one thing I realized toote.


    My apartment was only a five-minute walk from here.


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    Oh God. Why did I say I’d take a taxi?


    Now I was trapped in a small lie that only made everything moreplicated. How could I possibly get in a taxi just to get out two


    blocks away? That would be even more embarrassing than letting Liam drive me earlier.


    I closed my eyes briefly, trying to calm myself. Maybe I could pretend to wait for a taxi, then take a roundabout walk once he was gone. But… judging by the way he was watching me now-alert and determined like a guard dog-I doubted he’d leave before


    seeing a taxi door close and the car drive away.


    Liam was truly a nuisance.


    GET IT N…


    X


    11:21 AM Tue 2 Sep