Sky's POV
—One month later—
It's been four weeks.
Twenty-eight days.
Six hundred and seventy-two hours.
…But who's counting?
Me. Obviously.
Because for twenty-eight days straight, Rain and Ren have been trying.
Trying in the most ridiculous, stupid, infuriating, sweet, beautiful ways.
Rain doesn't say much, but he shows up everywhere—silently holding out my favorite umbrella when it rains, walking me home and pretending he "just happened" to be on the same route. Fixing the bent corner of my notebook before class even starts. Not saying a word, but always looking at me like I'm something he's afraid to break.
And Ren?
He's loud.
Obnoxious.
And absolutely killing me with his efforts.
He shows up at the café I study in with that dumb "accidental" smirk and pretends he's there for the Wi-Fi, even though he always forgets his charger. He signs me up for art competitions using my fake name. He brings me snacks shaped like bunnies and pretends he has no idea how they got in his bag.
They're trying.
They really are.
And I'm melting.
God, I'm melting.
Not in a dramatic, swoony way.
More like… slow erosion.
Like glacier cracks under warm sunlight.
Little by little. Quiet. Unstoppable.
---
I still remember that night.
The alley. The blood.
The "Ghost Emperor."
How do you unsee something like that?
How do you go back to hugging your brother after seeing him snap a guy's wrist without blinking?
How do you go back to dreaming about Rain when you've seen what kind of world he actually belongs to?
Answer: You don't.
Not really.
But you learn to accept that you never really knew them.
And that maybe... they're trying to let you in now.
Fully. Finally.
---
I'm sitting on the rooftop today, knees tucked to my chest, the wind playing with my hair, a dumb glitter pen twirling between my fingers.
I told myself I'd throw it away.
But I never did.
Because Rain remembered.
And he gave it back.
And people like that—people who remember glitter pens and love languages—they don't just love halfway.
They love in silence. In little things. In scars and mistakes and showing up, again and again and again.
"Sky?" a voice says from the rooftop door.
I turn.
It's Rain.
Alone.
Of course.
His hair's messy. There's a cut near his jaw—faint, healing.
But his eyes... those quiet, storm-swept eyes are still the same.
I look away. "If you're here to leave another candy—"
"I'm here because I missed you," he says quietly.
I freeze.
And then something snaps inside me.
"Rain," I whisper, voice cracking. "You broke my heart."
"I know."
"I trusted you. Both of you."
"I know."
"I—" My voice trembles, falls apart. "I never stopped loving you."
Silence.
Then footsteps. Slow. Careful.
He kneels beside me. Doesn't touch me. Just sits.
"I never deserved it," he murmurs.
I finally look at him—and something about the way he's looking at me—like he's seeing me and praying I don't vanish—it shatters me all over again.
"But I'm going to spend the rest of my life earning it," he says. "If you let me."
And then I'm crying.
The kind of crying that shakes your whole chest, breaks open every old scar.
But this time, when I break—
I fall into him.
And he catches me.
Just like Ren did when I tripped on air .
Just like Rain did when I slipped in the snow last winter.
Only this time, I'm not falling on accident.
I'm choosing to.
Because love isn't always safe.
But if you're lucky, it's worth the risk.
And as his arms wrap around me—strong, careful, shaking—I whisper,
"I missed you too."