Matthew only snorted in response as his eyes shifted past Lenox and landed on Catherine, who stood just a few feet away, quietly watching them. She didn’t speak. She didn’t move. She just looked at them, looking like an innocent lamb. What an excellent actress, he thought.
Just seeing her was enough to worsen Matthew’s mood.
Matthew turned back to Lenox. "If you’re so worried about her," he said. "Why don’t you help her mom with the surgery?"
Lenox froze. "That’s... not how it works."
"No?" Matthew tilted his head. "You’ve been doing everything else for her. Seems like the logical next step." Matthew knew that Catherine could hear them.
Lenox frowned. "Look, you’re clearly upset. But co on, Matt. This isn’t you. You’re being petty. Jealous, even. Just act like a man and go talk to her properly. Pursue her like you used to."
Matthew’s expression didn’t change. "I’m done pursuing Catherine."
Lenox stared at him, confused.
"You should pursue her instead," Matthew added. "Really. You already have my full support."
Then, without waiting for a reply, Matthew glanced at Catherine again, gave her a smirk, and turned his back on them. He walked away without another word, disappearing down the hallway.
Lenox stood there for a mont, unsure of what just happened.
Sarah imdiately approached. "What’s going on with him?" she asked. "He used to help out every ti. Now he just walks off like he doesn’t care."
Lenox scratched the back of his neck. "He’s just tired. That’s all."
He looked over and saw Catherine still standing in place, one hand lightly touching her temple.
"You okay?" he asked.
Catherine nodded faintly. "I have a headache. I think I’ll head ho."
"I’ll have the driver take you," Lenox said. "Give a minute to tell him."
Catherine hesitated. "Would you... co with ?"
Lenox didn’t answer right away. His thoughts were still on Matthew.
This wasn’t like Matthew at all. In the past, Matthew let everything go. Even when Catherine slapped him, he would still follow her around. He always ca back, no matter how cold she acted.
Was he really done?
Or was this just so kind of ga?
Was Matthew acting out to get Catherine’s attention? Was he simply playing hard to get?
Lenox didn’t have an answer. But the sudden change unsettled him more than he wanted to admit.
"Lenox, you should go with her. Don’t worry, we’ve got everything covered," Sarah said quickly. Everyone at school knew Catherine and Lenox had liked each other for a long ti, but because Matthew liked her too, Lenox had always stepped aside. However, it seed that Matthew had completely given up this ti.
"Alright then," Lenox said. He wondered what would happen if Matthew found out he’d actually taken Catherine ho. Would he snap? Even in the past, Lenox had never crossed that line—always careful not to stir Matthew’s temper. But desperate tis called for desperate asures.
Once Matthew realizes he’s jealous, he’ll probably drop this little ga of his, Lenox thought.
Sadly, what Lenox expected didn’t happen.
Matthew didn’t have the chance to think about them, of course. He was busy thinking about Nexians and the things from his past life.
Nexians.
Twenty years from now, the first signs of humans who could use superpowers were revealed to the world. This gave birth to the na: Nexians.
Matthew lay on his back, eyes fixed on the ceiling for a few long seconds, before turning his head toward the window. The room was quiet, lit only by the faint glow from the hallway. He lifted his hand slowly and held it up, studying it against the light.
It looked normal. Sa fingers. But sothing about it didn’t feel the sa. Not anymore.
"Nexians," he muttered under his breath.
He rembered the headlines. They didn’t last long. Two days of coverage, and then—nothing. All articles are gone. Videos wiped. Social dia posts flagged or deleted.
He would’ve believed the entire thing was a hoax if he hadn’t gotten his hands on those files.
Back then, he had already been sick. Desperate, really. His body was giving up, and he knew it. The hospital treatnts weren’t working. No one could explain what was happening to him. So, he looked elsewhere. He searched for people—anyone—who might have the ability to heal his body. The rumors about Nexians gave him hope.
At that ti, he had already tried everything. Acupuncture in the mountains with monks who claid to balance his life energy. A shady herbalist convinced him to drink so kind of fernted deer urine for a week—he almost vomited every ti but still kept going. He even let one traveling "healer" cover his chest in a burning salve made from tree bark and insect husks.
All of it was useless. Just pain, embarrassnt, and wasted ti.
But when he stumbled on the Nexian rumors, sothing felt different. Less mystical, more... possible. Like a thread of truth buried under the nonsense.
He paid good money to access what the black market had. It wasn’t much. A few blurry photos, a handful of stolen reports, a short clip that showed a man walking through a burning building untouched. But no nas. No confird locations. Just theories.
Still, it was sothing.
He had asked Lenox for help at the ti, thinking that if anyone could pull a few strings or dig deeper, it was him. But Lenox laughed it off. Called it AI-generated nonsense. Said Matthew was grasping at straws.
So he dropped the topic.
At least, that’s what he told Catherine and the rest.
He kept everything to himself after that. Organized the docunts into a folder, printed out what he could, and saved the rest to encrypted drives. He reviewed them in secret, mostly at night, always behind locked doors.
And yet, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make progress. The deeper he looked, the faster the information dried up, like soone was scrubbing the trail clean.
Eventually, even he started to doubt. Maybe Lenox was right. Maybe it was fake. So AI trick. Just one of those viral hoaxes ant to stir attention for a few days. The world moved on—and so did he.
Until now.
He stared at his hand again.
It didn’t glow. It didn’t spark. But there was sothing beneath the surface.
He brought it down slowly and rolled onto his side, reaching for the pencil on the bedside table. He held it for a second, then gave it a light squeeze.
The wood snapped with a faint crack, the pieces falling apart like dry twigs.
He frowned.
It wasn’t just strength. It was control. Like his muscles were responding faster than they should. Like his instincts were sharper. His vision is clearer. His thoughts moved quicker. He’d always been a fast thinker, but now... it was different. Amplified.
"This is insane," he muttered, sitting up.
The ghost girl’s words ca back to him. She had ntioned Duke. The Tian Family. Spiritual Sense.
Matthew’s eyes narrowed.
His mind turned to everything he’d missed. All the questions he didn’t ask. All the strange monts that didn’t make sense before.
"Just how much about this world don’t I know?"
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