"Red!"
Vivian’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. Her fingers tightened around the handle.
For a moment, she couldn’t hear the noisy cafeteria anymore. The conversations, the clattering plates, the laughter, and the music playing near the entrance all faded.
Her heart was racing faster. Slowly, she turned her head.
And there he was.
Jeffrey.
He was standing several tables away, walking over to her.
He looked different now. Taller. Broader than she remembered from her past life. His dark hair was slightly messy, and he wore the academy’s black Sentinel uniform. The silver emblem on his chest reflected S-Class.
Her childhood best friend. And now one of the people she hated most in the world.
Jeffrey’s expression changed the moment their eyes met.
"Vivian?" He smiled, picking up his pace.
His smile dragged her back to the boy she had known all her life. The boy who used to climb the fence separating their houses.
The boy who had sat beside her on the porch when her mother died. Vivian had been only ten years old. She remembered crying until her chest hurt. And Jeffrey, two years older, had sat beside her for hours in the dark. He had held her small hand, told her ridiculous jokes until she smiled again.
"I’ll marry you when we’re older, Red. I’ll always protect you. I never want to see you cry."
She had believed him. God, she had actually believed him.
Whenever she was terrified to go inside and face her toxic stepmother, she would crash at his place. His parents always welcomed her.
But the second his Sentinel abilities awakened a year ago? He packed his bags, moved into the academy, and ghosted her. At first, he answered her texts with short sentences. Then he stopped answering altogether.
He didn’t check on her once. Not even a simple text asking if she was okay. He knew how Helen treated her, yet he didn’t even bother to check if she was still alive.
And five years later, when the apocalypse started, he probably used his S-Class status to board private jets, leaving her and her to be eaten by monsters.
And yet here he was, walking right up to her, smiling as if nothing had ever happened.
Don’t, she thought. Don’t you dare smile at me like that.
"Vivian!" Jeffrey reached the table, stopping right beside her chair. For a moment, he just stared at her. Then, he let out a soft laugh. "You’re here. I can’t believe it."
Vivian slowly raised her head. "Well."
Jeffrey frowned slightly, confused by her cold tone. He looked at the rest of the table, his eyes widened in shock when he saw Logan, Adrian, and Wyatt.
He baffled as to why an unranked freshman was eating with the academy’s top elites.
"Logan. Adrian," Jeffrey nodded casually, then his eyes landed on. "Wyatt."
Wyatt didn’t say a word. He was watching Jeffrey in silence.
Without asking, Jeffrey pulled an empty chair from the next table and dragged it right next to Vivian. He sat down, trapping her between himself and Wyatt.
He looked down at her food, reached his chopsticks out toward her tray, and carefully picked up a slice of green bell pepper from her rice and tossed it to the side of her plate.
"You’re still eating things you’re allergic to," he said softly, giving her a gentle smile. "See? You still need me to look after you."
Sitting across from them, Adrian’s eyes softened as he watched them. He leaned his chin on his hands, looking at Logan with a smile. "Awwwnnn."
Vivian looked down at the bell pepper. He was right. She had completely forgotten about her minor allergies during five years of starving and eating garbage in the apocalypse. Apparently, he hadn’t forgotten.
Jeffrey leaned in a little closer. "You still haven’t grown out of it?"
"No."
"I remember," he murmured, looking at her face. "You’ve grown into a very pretty young lady, Red. Look, I know you’re mad. I know I haven’t seen you in a year, and I’ve been terrible at replying. But I missed you, Vivi. I’ve just been so busy with S-Class training, but I swear I never forgot you."
Vivian almost choked on her food. "You missed me? That’s interesting."
Jeffrey frowned, looking hurt. "Why?"
"Because I don’t remember receiving that information," Vivian said, looking away.
"Vivian." He reached out, touching her palm. "I really did miss you."
"Then why didn’t you call?"
"I told you. I was busy."
She laughed softly. "You’ve used that excuse already."
"It isn’t an excuse, Red. I thought about you all the time. I never forgot you."
She remembered how desperately she had wanted to hear those exact words in her first life. How many lonely nights she had stared at her phone screen in the attic. How many times she had wondered if she had somehow become invisible or unimportant to him.
Now that he was sitting right beside her, saying exactly what she had once starved for, she felt nothing but anger.
"You should have," Vivian said quietly.
Jeffrey blinked, caught off guard. "What?"
"Forgotten me." Vivian looked back down at her plate. "It would’ve made things a lot easier."