\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 81\u00a0<\/p>\n
Violet\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sa youthers\u00a0<\/p>\n
I leaned against the wall, my legs crossed as I flipped to the next page. My hair was pulled up into a messy bun, my glasses sliding a little down my nose, and a sweet stuck to my lips to keep me awake. I knew I looked like a mess, anyone could tell.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After what happened yesterday, I had locked myself in my room with my books, refusing to step outside. I only came out late at night when I was sure everyone was asleep, sneaking into the kitchen to cook a bowl of ramen before slipping back into my room. I studied until my eyes blurred, and words stopped making sense, and finally collapsed for barely three hours of sleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This morning, I forced myself up, took a quick shower, and left the house before anyone was awake. Now I was here, hidden away in the private section of the library, trying to cram as much as I could into my tired brain. My body begged me to sleep, but I refused. I didn\u2019t have that luxury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d already missed too many classes because of my jobs. If I wanted to graduate, I had to push harder than everyone else. And, there was another reason to read harder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t face him after last night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know if he had realized it was me behind that mask, but I was still ashamed. Imagine dating his nephew, then later finding yourself in bed with his brother. Who would forgive something like that? Even if I had no idea Hades was his brother, I doubted Roman would be the type to be understanding if he ever found out. And from the way they looked at each other, their relationship didn\u2019t seem the best.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So I did the only thing I knew how to do when a problem was too heavy for me to carry. I ran.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I told myself I would avoid him, no matter what. Even if I had to step back into his class again, I would sit in the very back. keep my head down, and never let his eyes land on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to avoid all the Sinclairs,\u201d I muttered under my breath, forcing myself to focus on the notes in my lap.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I had just lowered my head back to the page when a voice cut in.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not particularly thrilled that you didn\u2019t come to class,\u201d he said indifferently. \u201cBut at least you ditched my class to read in the library, Miss Violet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My whole body went stiff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Swallowing hard, I lifted my eyes, praying the ground would open up and swallow me whole. That would have been a blessing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roman stood there, his expression unreadable, his dark eyes fixed on me,\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t tell what he was thinking, and that made it worse. Do you know how uncomfortable that kind of silence is? When you\u2019re trapped under someone\u2019s gaze and you have no clue what\u2019s going on in their head?\u00a0<\/p>\n
And for God\u2019s sake, I couldn\u2019t even ignore him for a single day. One day, and he had already found me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He slipped his hand into his pocket and leaned against the bookshelf, as though he had all the time in the world. \u201cIs there a reason you didn\u2019t come to class, Miss Violet?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He used that tone that always made me feel like a child being lectured. Except this time, it was different.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I shook my head quickly and pulled the sweet from my lips. \u201cOh, I was just trying to study alone,\u201d I said, forcing my voice to\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:54 Tue, Jan 6 j\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 81\u00a0<\/p>\n
sound normal, even though inside I was screaming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
90\u00a0<\/p>\n
FL.55 ouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n
Roman\u2019s gaze lingered on me, making my skin prickle. He had always paid more attention to me than to the other students, and I knew it was because I used to be Matthew\u2019s girlfriend. But why was he here now, talking to me so casually? Especially when I wasn\u2019t with Matthew anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that so?\u201d he murmured.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded, desperate to end this. My eyes darted to the clock on the wall, and I seized my chance. \u201cWould you look at the time,\u201d I said, faking a laugh. \u201cI have to go. I have a meeting with my brother.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I bent down and stuffed my notes into my bag in a rush, the papers crumpling, and my fingers trembling. I stood, bowed my head slightly to avoid his stare, and muttered, \u201cGoodbye, sir.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I turned to leave, already starting to feel relieved, until a cold hand closed firmly around mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I gasped, my breath caught in my throat. I turned my head back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His eyes locked with mine as he asked. \u201cAre you avoiding me, Violet?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Huh? Yes, I had been avoiding him, but why did he sound like that? My eyes snapped to his face, searching for something, and only then did I notice it. I had been too desperate to run before to realize how dark his eyes were.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Was I overthinking it? In that moment, I could\u2019ve sworn he wasn\u2019t looking at me like a professor watching his student. It felt more like a man about to lose something he couldn\u2019t bear to let go of.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My throat went dry. \u201cMr. Roman\u2026?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was about to ask him what was going on when the sudden vibration in my other hand startled me. My phone rang, Sebastian\u2019s name lighting up the screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t lying earlier, I really was supposed to meet my brother. He was probably already waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I lifted my eyes to Roman. He still hadn\u2019t let go of my hand. For a moment, he just stared at me, then slowly released me, his fingers slipping away. I coughed lightly, as if to clear the tension.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cExcuse me,\u201d I muttered, answering the call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSebastian, I\u2019m on my-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
11\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHello, is this Violet? Sebastian\u2019s sister?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I froze. The voice was deep, and unfamiliar. It was definitely not Sebastian. My stomach dropped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, why are you with my brother\u2019s phone?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was a pause before the man spoke. \u201cMiss Violet, I\u2019m sorry to inform you, but your brother is in the hospital in critical condition.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For a single mofnent, everything around me stopped. My ears rang, but I couldn\u2019t hear a thing. It was as if the whole world had gone silent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:54 Tue, Jan 6 \u2022<\/p>\n
Nights Burn With Regret \u2014 by Nathan Perez 81 \u00a0 Chapter 81\u00a0 Violet\u00a0 Sa youthers\u00a0 I leaned against the wall, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-craving-the-guardian-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27997\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}