Rain's POV
My dorm room was quiet. Too quiet.The kind that wraps around your chest and doesn't let go.Like even the air didn't want to move too loudly in case it disturbed the ghosts of old tears.
The blue box sat on my desk.
I stared at it for a long time.Turned off the lamp.Turned it back on.
The silver ribbon looked too perfect to ruin. Like it wasn't meant for someone like me—someone who still flinched when doors opened too fast.Who still replayed laughter like it was a crime scene.
Happy birthday, he had said.
Sebastian.The boy who had once made me feel like the word "worthless" was tattooed on my skin.Now standing in front of me with a gift.
I didn't know how to feel.I didn't know what to feel.
My fingers reached for the ribbon anyway.Pulled slowly.Softly.
It slid away like silk, and I opened the lid.
Inside was a necklace.
Simple. Thin. Gold.No flashy charms, no dramatic glitter.Just a delicate chain and a tiny pendant—
A heart.But not hollow.
Inside the heart, etched in impossibly small cursive, was a single word:
Rain.
My name.Spelled right. No jokes. No fake accents.Just… Rain.
I didn't know when the tears started.I didn't even realize I was crying until I felt the wet warmth on my wrist as I cradled the box.
My heart clenched.Hard.Because he'd seen me.
He remembered.
Not the bruises.Not the whispers.Not the way I flinched when he passed me in the hallway.
He remembered me.
I clutched the necklace to my chest and whispered to the empty room,"Why now?"
Why this gift?Why after all the cruelty?
Was it guilt?Was it pity?
Or was it something else entirely?
I didn't know.
But the strange thing was…
For the first time in years, I didn't feel like a shadow.Not in that moment.Not with this tiny, shining thing pressed to my heart.
And somehow…That scared me more than anything.