( note : this Chapter is not a continuation of the previous two Chapters...this one is focused on the present and told from a third person’s pov)
The knock ca just after sunset.
Raina barely looked up from the untouched glass of wine sitting beside her laptop. Beyond the tall windows of her Opalvine apartnt, the city glowed beneath the evening sky, soft gold lights bleeding into the dark.
Another knock echoed through the apartnt.
Yuki appeared from the hallway. "I’ll get it."
Raina nodded absentmindedly, pretending to focus on the email open on her screen.
Pretending.
Because her thoughts had been circling the sa thing for hours now.
Susan.
Ethan’s office.
The way she smiled.
The way Ethan looked caught off guard.
The way Susan had said: "Really close."
A bitter feeling twisted beneath Raina’s ribs again.
She hated it.
Jealousy was ugly.
And yet it refused to leave.
Downstairs, the front door opened.
Voices followed.
A woman’s voice.
Raina’s fingers froze above the keyboard.
No.
Slowly, she stood.
By the ti she reached the living room entrance, Yuki had already stepped aside to let the guest in.
Raina stopped cold.
Susan stood near the center of the room removing her coat calmly, like she belonged there.
Like this wasn’t strange at all.
Raina felt her pulse stumble.
"You?" she asked quietly.
Susan looked up.
For a mont, neither of them spoke.
Then Susan smiled.
"Hello, Himari."
The na hollowed the air out of Raina’s lungs.
Yuki frowned slightly, glancing between them. "Wait... you two know each other?"
Susan’s eyes never left Raina.
"Oh," she said lightly, "we’ve t before."
Raina recovered quickly enough to force her expression back into place.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
Yuki looked confused now. "She said she had sothing important to discuss with you."
"I do," Susan replied smoothly.
Yuki hesitated, sensing sothing deeply uncomfortable settling into the room.
"...I’ll make tea," she said finally before disappearing toward the kitchen.
The second she was gone, the atmosphere changed completely.
Silence stretched between the two won.
Susan wandered farther into the apartnt, fingertips grazing lightly across the marble counter.
"You’ve done well for yourself," she murmured.
Raina said nothing.
Susan turned slowly toward her again.
"You changed a lot."
Her gaze swept over Raina carefully.
"The hair." "The na." "The eyes."
A faint smile touched her lips.
"But so things don’t change."
Raina’s throat tightened.
"How did you find ?"
Susan ignored the question.
"You know," she said softly, "I almost convinced myself I was imagining it."
She stepped closer.
"But then I saw you standing beside Ethan."
Another step.
"And suddenly everything started making sense."
Raina’s heartbeat pounded harder.
Susan knew.
Not suspected.
Knew.
"What do you want?" Raina asked carefully.
Susan tilted her head slightly.
"That’s an interesting question."
Her voice remained calm. Controlled.
Too controlled.
"Because honestly?" she continued softly. "I spent years asking myself what you wanted."
Raina’s stomach twisted.
Susan studied her face quietly.
"You always watched people like you were standing outside the world looking in," she said. "Even back then."
A pause.
"And Ethan never noticed."
That one landed harder than Raina expected.
Susan let out a faint breath through her nose.
"He still doesn’t."
Raina crossed her arms tightly. "You ca all the way here just to say that?"
"No."
Susan’s expression cooled slightly.
"I ca because I’m tired of pretending none of this is strange."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
"You appear out of nowhere," Susan continued. "New identity. New life."
Her eyes sharpened.
"And sohow you end up with Ethan."
Raina forced herself not to react.
"That’s called coincidence."
Susan laughed quietly.
Not loudly.
Not mockingly.
Just enough to make Raina uncomfortable.
"Maybe."
She walked toward the windows overlooking the city.
"For a while I tried convincing myself that too."
Then she looked back.
"But Felix disappearing..."
The na alone made Raina stiffen.
Susan noticed imdiately.
"There it is," she murmured.
Raina’s composure tightened instantly. "Don’t."
"Why?" Susan asked softly. "Does hearing his na still bother you?"
Raina’s breathing grew shallow.
"You’re crossing a line."
"No," Susan replied calmly. "I think we crossed that line years ago."
The silence that followed felt suffocating.
Susan folded her arms loosely.
"You know what the worst part is?" she asked quietly.
Raina didn’t answer.
"I genuinely trusted you."
That surprised her.
More than it should have.
Susan’s gaze lowered briefly before returning to her.
"You acted like my friend."
The words weren’t loud.
But they carried weight.
"And maybe that’s why I ignored things I shouldn’t have ignored."
Raina’s chest tightened painfully.
Susan stepped closer again.
"Felix disappears." "You vanish." "Then years later you co back wearing soone else’s face beside Ethan."
A pause.
"You understand why that sounds insane, right?"
Raina forced herself to stay calm.
"I didn’t do anything to Felix."
Susan held her gaze for several long seconds.
Then quietly:
"Do you even believe that yourself?"
The question hit harder than any accusation could have.
Because buried sowhere beneath years of denial—
Raina had asked herself the sa thing.
Susan saw the hesitation imdiately.
And for the first ti since arriving—
her composure cracked slightly.
Not anger.
Disappointnt.
"You know what scares ?" she asked softly.
Raina said nothing.
"It’s not what happened to Felix."
Her expression darkened.
"It’s the fact that sotis when I look at you..."
She paused.
"...I still can’t tell whether you’re a victim or sothing much worse."
Raina felt cold all over.
From the kitchen, faint sounds of dishes clinking reminded them they weren’t alone.
Susan glanced briefly toward the hallway before stepping back.
Then she reached for her coat.
"I didn’t co here to expose you," she said.
That surprised Raina.
Susan slipped the coat over her shoulders slowly.
"Not yet."
A chill crawled down Raina’s spine.
Susan walked toward the door.
But before leaving, she stopped beside her.
Close enough for Raina to sll her perfu.
"You built a beautiful life here," Susan said quietly.
Her eyes t Raina’s directly.
"I just wonder how long it survives the truth."
Then she opened the door.
And left.
The apartnt fell silent.
Raina stood motionless in the center of the room, her heartbeat hamring violently against her ribs.
Yuki returned carrying two cups of tea.
"...She left?"
Raina didn’t answer imdiately.
Her eyes remained fixed on the closed door.
"Raina?"
Slowly, she looked down at her trembling hands.
Then her phone began ringing.
The sudden sound made her flinch.
Yuki frowned. "Are you okay?"
Raina looked at the screen.
Ethan.
Her stomach dropped instantly.
She answered.
"H-Hello?"
"Hey," Ethan said warmly from the other side. "I’m heading over."
A cold feeling spread through her chest.
There was a brief pause before he spoke again.
"We need to talk."
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