Chapter 131

** Paige’s POV ** The first time I saw him, we were sixteen. He stood at the back of the classroom, hood up, headphones in, all in black, like the world had done him wrong, and he wanted everyone to know it. Everyone was afraid of him back then. He was the angry one, the troublemaker, the boy with eyes like a storm. Teachers avoided him in class discussions, students whispered about him, and no one dared sit too close, but I remember thinking that none of them really looked. Not the way I did. Because when he lifted his head, and those eyes met mine for the first time… I saw something entirely different. Beneath all the attitude and the dangerous smirk that didn’t reach his eyes, there was this raw, aching sadness. A quiet kind of loneliness that spoke to me louder than any threat he could have been. Maybe I was being reckless, but I saw the boy who stayed late after classes to avoid going home. The boy who pretended not to care but always walked me home after dark, keeping just enough